The Loonatics Meet Ratchet and Clank
by PerkyGoth14
Summary: Felicity and Chip decide to bring LJ and Zofia with them to reunite with the Loonatics in Acmetropolis. While there, they are suddenly called away to Planet Veldin and must help a group called The Galactic Rangers against a force known as Drek along with an old enemy: Black Velvet from destroying the universe. On the way then, they make two new friends, a Lombax and a robot.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sorry about so many uploads, just trying to keep myself busy... You guys understand, right?**

* * *

Having arrived home the previous day, LJ was pretty curious about what the future world would be like: from what little Felicity had told him of her adventures there, it sounded incredible. And having missed out on some really awesome adventures that Felicity had been on before, he was more than eager to get involved in this adventure with these "Loonatics" that he'd spotted during their movie adventure.

"Sorry we couldn't go right away yesterday," Felicity said to her brother. "Hope you got enough sleep though."

"Yeah, I did," LJ replied. "Slept like a rock."

"Ah! Excellent!" Felicity said. "Erm... I hope you don't mind Akito, Estelle, and Vincent bringing along their personal guests for the ride."

"Sure, not at all." LJ replied.

Felicity soon took them downstairs.

"Flick, you have a visitor yourself." Cherry said.

A blonde boy soon came out with a smile.

"Chip!" Felicity beamed before hugging him.

"So this is Chip," LJ remarked. "LJ Schwartz, Felicity's brother. Nice to meet you."

"Hi, there," Chip smiled. "Good to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm Zofia." Zofia then added.

"Felicity's talked quite highly of you," LJ stated. "And going from that, I guess you're A-OK."

Felicity blushed from that.

"Well, thanks," Chip smiled. "Felicity's one of my best friends... A little bit more than that though these days. It's nice to meet you both."

"Likewise," LJ nodded. "Now let's DO this!"

Felicity soon took out her watch and fiddled with it a bit and opened up a portal.

"You kids have fun now." Cherry told them.

"Okay, Mom!" LJ waved before giggling giddily. "For once, an adventure we missed out on, we actually get to partake in!"

Cherry waved to them and the kids soon disappeared through the portal to start a brand new adventure.

Soon, they arrived in the future on the city-planet of Acmetropolis. Felicity led the way as she knew the streets well due to coming here a lot before the younger ones had been born.

LJ was gazing around in astonishment. "It's... It's incredible...!" he gasped.

"Yes, it's a nice place to visit sometimes." Felicity smiled back.

LJ soon turned to the others. "So when do we get to our destination?" he asked.

The others soon met up with them and they appeared to have guests with them.

"Before we see Zadavia, you have to meet the others." Felicity told her siblings.

"Sounds good to me." LJ replied.

Akito, Estelle, and Vincent soon came with their guests.

"This is Jenny Foxworth: heiress to the Foxworth fortune," Vincent said. "She's also my very special and wonderful girlfriend."

"Oh, Vincent, I'm blushing." Jenny blushed to that.

"Nice to meet'cha!" LJ shook her hand. "Take good care'a my cousin."

"Oh, I already do," Jenny smiled. "He saved my life when we first met."

"Cool!" LJ winked.

"This is Lee Clark," Estelle smiled, turning pink in her face slightly. "He goes to Southdale High with me, Akito, and Vincent. He's the oldest of the Clark siblings, and he's so athletic, handsome, and kind."

"Good to meet ya." Lee smiled to LJ and Zofia.

"Greetings." Zofia smiled back.

"Hey." LJ waved.

"And finally, this is Emi Ketchum," Akito said. "The younger sister of Ash Ketchum and the Pokemon Princess."

"Hi." Emi smiled to LJ and Zofia.

"Hi." LJ waved.

"Charmed," Emi smiled. "I hear you haven't heard a lot about me."

"That's correct." LJ replied.

"Well, I assure you I am real," Emi smiled. "It's nice to meet you guys."

"Likewise." Zofia smiled back with a small curtsy.

"Same, same!" LJ replied with a bow.

They then walked off together to then come to see Zadavia who was with her new family.

"So, as you know, Zadavia got married and is now a mother, they're babies, and be careful of Hercules, he's pretty strong for a baby." Felicity told LJ and Zofia.

"This is the first I am hearing of this, but congratulations!" LJ replied.

"Who did she marry?" Zofia asked.

"Captain Planet." The Fudo siblings replied.

Felicity nodded to that with a small smile.

"Well, not the weirdest couple ever." LJ shrugged.

* * *

They soon went inside and came up an elevator, going up the long way up to the top floor of the tower where Zadavia and the Loonatics were. And so the elevators opened. After they arrived, with the group emerging.

"I think that should just about do it for the preparations." Zadavia said as she came out of a room.

"Don't tell me...Zadavia, right?" LJ asked.

"Ah, you must be Felicity's guests: LJ and Zofia." Zadavia smiled to the two.

"That would be us, ma'am." Zofia smiled back.

"Right on the money, Ma'am!" LJ replied.

"It's good to meet you two," Zadavia smiled. "I'm sorry we haven't had the pleasure before."

"Hey, it's alright," LJ shrugged. "We didn't even know about the awesome adventures we missed out on."

Captain Planet soon came in, carrying twin babies. The girl looked like him while the boy looked like Zadavia. Of course, the boy was holding his favorite toy which was Buzz Lightyear.

"Aw, these must be the little ones." Zofia smiled.

"Yes," Captain Planet smiled. "Little Hercules and Maxima."

"Oh, cool!" LJ beamed.

"Bzz." Hercules babbled.

"Yeah, Buzz!" LJ smirked. "Smart kid."

"Hercules really loves his Buzz Lightyear." Captain Planet chuckled.

"So I've noticed." LJ replied.

"Come with me, the Loonatics are in the other room, we just ordered some pizza." Zadavia smiled.

"I love pizza with the Loonatics!" Felicity beamed.

"Sounds awesome!" LJ remarked.

* * *

They soon came into the other room which was like a rec room with a big TV and some games, and in were the Loonatics: Ace and Lexi Bunny (no relation), Tech E. Coyote, Rev Runner, Slam Tasmanian, and Danger Duck.

"Awesome!" LJ beamed. "The Loonatics themselves!"

"Ah, yes, yes, always nice to meet my adoring public," Duck smiled a bit smugly. "Hello, there. You want my autograph?"

"Uh...sure..." LJ shrugged, deciding to humor him.

"You got great taste!" Duck beamed.

This made the others roll their eyes slightly.

"Oooookay then," LJ replied, approaching the others. "Nice to meet all of you."

"Good to meet ya too," Ace replied. "Any friends of Akito, Estelle, Felicity, and Vincent's are friends of ours."

"Actually, Zofia and I are Felicity's siblings." LJ explained.

"Really?" Ace replied.

"Oui, it is a very long story." Felicity said as she stood with Chip.

"Eh, not that long," LJ replied. "Zofia and I were born three years after Felicity, and our parents are Lionel Schwartz and Cherry Butler. I think that sums it up nicely."

"Anyway, still good to meetcha." Ace smiled.

"Same here!" LJ replied.

"You better get yourselves some pizza if you want any before Slam eats it all." Tech warned.

"Good idea." LJ nodded as he got some.

Zofia had some pizza along with her brother.

"So, kid, how's it going?" Ace asked Akito.

"Pretty good," Akito replied. "Emi practically runs a Pokemon Day Care Center now though."

"Very funny, Akito Fudo." Emi smirked.

"Man, there's so much stuff going on," LJ grumbled. "And we're getting left in the dust! Well, NOT ANYMORE!"

"Is he okay?" Ace asked.

"He's just heard about so many adventures, I guess he's jealous." Chip shrugged.

"You hit the nail on the head, dude." LJ replied as he continued eating.

Everyone soon had some pizza.

"No, no, you two are going for a nap." Zadavia cooed as she picked up her twin babies.

Zofia gave a small smile to the baby twins. Zadavia went to put Hercules and Maxima down for a nap while everyone else hung out with some pizza. LJ continued eating his pizza grumpily.

"Are you okay?" Chip asked.

"Sure, sure. Nothing like eating food while hearing about fun adventures you didn't get to go on..." LJ grumbled.

"Hey, that isn't our fault," Chip said. "Besides, you have your own adventures."

"Yeah, but that was WAY later," LJ replied. "And I never said it was anyone's fault..."

Chip just shrugged to him, not sure what to make of that as he had some of his own pizza.

"But hey, I missed out, nothing I can do about it," LJ shrugged as he ate his next slice more ravenously. "No time like the PRESENT!"

"He's worrying me." Chip whispered to Felicity.

"I'm not sure what to do myself." Felicity whispered back.

LJ eventually finished his slices and flopped over on his side with a grumpy expression. Felicity and Chip glanced to him. Rev was running around as usual, talking with LJ and Zofia once in a while to get to know them better.

"Slow down." Zofia muttered.

"Jeez, wind it back and play it at normal speed, wouldja?" LJ snapped. "Not all of us can listen as fast as you speak."

"Heh... Sorry... Force of habit." Rev replied.

"You supposed to be Woody Woodpecker?" Zofia asked.

"Very funny, but I am Rev Runner." The roadrunner smiled.

LJ rolled his eyes and sighed. "I suppose you've got plenty of exciting stories about Akito and Estelle's super-awesome adventures with you guys." he replied sarcastically.

"...Not if you're gonna use that attitude..." Rev said, feeling uncomfortable.

"Well, glad to hear it," LJ replied. "Cuz the last thing I need is people who got to have more fun talking about all the cool, exciting stuff I missed out on."

"Frater, will you please settle down? You're making a scene." Zofia told her brother.

LJ rolled his eyes. "Yeah, alright..." he grumbled. "Besides, at least we actually get to be part of an awesome adventure we missed out on the first time around."

Zofia just let out a sigh as she didn't know what to do with her brother.

"Sorry," LJ sighed. "I'm just feeling kinda bitter, is all."

"It's fine, I guess..." Zofia muttered.

"No, it's not. My cruddy mood has been putting a damper on your good time," LJ replied. "And I apologize to everyone here."

"No offense, but you are kind of being a bummer." Felicity had to agree.

"Yeah, I know...and I'm sorry." LJ replied sadly.

"It is fine..." Felicity said. "These are our best friends, and they went through all this trouble just to make you feel welcome."

"I know," LJ sighed. "And I feel like a major heel just thinkin' about it..."

"Sorry about that." Felicity told the Loonatics.

"It's okay," Lexi replied. "Let's just all have some fun together."

"You know what? That... Sounds nice." LJ replied.

"Yeah, come on then," Lexi smiled. "Let's just have fun now!"

The others smiled back to that as that seemed to settle things down.

"Okay!" LJ replied, with a reignited joy.

Zadavia smiled as she sat down with the others as they began to have fun together. The others brought out their Pokemon to meet LJ and Zofia.

"Looks like a good time." Tech chuckled with a small smile.

"Hm... I guess it is." LJ replied.

Today seemed to be a lot of fun for everybody.

"Feeling better, buddy?" Lee asked LJ as he had his arm wrapped around Estelle.

"Hm... Yeah, I guess so." LJ replied.

"That's good," Estelle smiled. "This has always been like a home away from home for us, and since you're family to us, this can be your second home too."

"I guess that could be nice..." LJ replied with a small smile.

Estelle gave a small smile back as she stood beside Lee. LJ flopped onto the floor, looking happier than he had earlier. Even the Pokemon seemed to smile to him.

"Pika!" Pikachu giggled as he playfully pounced on LJ.

"Whoa!" LJ yelped as the electric mouse jumped onto him.

Pikachu smiled.

"Aw, Pikachu likes you," Emi smiled to LJ. "Poor Ash had a bit of bad luck when we first met Pikachu."

"Yeah, I saw the episode..." LJ replied, before an alarm rang out.

"Whoa! What's that?" Ace yelped.

"I better go check on that, could someone take care of the twins in case they wake up?" Zadavia replied as she went to check the alarm.

"I'll do it, Zadavia." Felicity offered before going with Estelle to check on the baby twins.

"Good on ya!" LJ replied.

Felicity and Estelle came to settle down the twins while Zadavia checked to see what was going on.

"Oh, please don't cry." Estelle frowned to Hercules and Maxima.

The twins began to fuss.

"Great timing, everyone." Captain Planet remarked.

"Anyone hurt?" Lee asked just to make sure.

"We're good!" Slam reassured, giving two thumb's up.

* * *

"Zadavia, what's going on?" Chip asked the space woman.

"Recently, a planet called Tenemule has just been destroyed by a super-weapon of unfathomable power," Zadavia explained. "Not to mention, on the nearby planet called Veldin, our old foe, Black Velvet, has resurfaced."

Felicity soon shivered nervously from the mention of Black Velvet.

"They won't get away with this!" Ace narrowed his eyes.

"Darn right they won't!" LJ agreed.

"Loonatics, I'm sorry our good time has to be spoiled like this." Zadavia frowned.

"It's okay, Zadavia," Lexi replied. "I guess we should've just expected this."

"What says the good time has to end?" LJ asked. "Just means we get to kick some more bad guy butts!"

"Oh, and also, this team of space heroes called the Galactic Rangers who are also going to be on Veldin," Captain Planet added. "Help them out however you can."

"Hmm... Interesting... Nothing like a good old-fashioned team-up though." Akito smiled out of intrigue.

"Uh, are those like the Power Rangers?" Lee asked, scratching his head about the Galactic Rangers.

"Nah, they're more like Star Command," Captain Planet explained. "Their leader is this guy: Captain Qwark."

The screen then displayed a picture of a tall, muscular man in a green spandex costume with a very prominent chin.

"Ah..." The others said once they took a look.

Hercules seemed to blow a raspberry and glare at Captain Qwark. LJ snickered at that.

"Erm. Well, regardless, you had best make your way to planet Veldin as quickly as you can." Zadavia advised.

"Don't worry, Zadavia, we're on it," Felicity said as she carried Maxima. "Come on, guys, we got work to do."

"You're right, Frenchy," Ace replied. "Let's jet!"

"Alright, it's butt-kicking time!" LJ whooped. "But don't we need suits like you guys?"

"Way ahead of ya, here, wear these." Tech said, handing him and the others some bracelets.

"Bracelets?" Zofia asked.

"Push the button," Tech smiled. "I worked on this last night after Felicity called us about your visit."

LJ and Zofia looked to each other and pushed the blinking red button and soon, they were given their own Loonatic uniforms just like the others.

"Alright," LJ remarked at his camo-colored uniform. "Say hello to QuadStar! Honestly, I wasn't feeling it with 'Mishmash', you know? Didn't feel right."

"I think QuadStar fits with your journey." Tech smiled.

"Sweet..." Zofia smiled in her purple and blue outfit. "Hmm... What to call myself? Maybe Galaxia?"

"Sure, whatever works," LJ replied. "Now let's GO!"

"Right!" The others agreed and they soon went to move out.

* * *

They soon came onto the Loonatics' jet and began to leave to go to a whole new world which was Planet Veldin. The jet hovered into the air... And took off into space.

"Planet Veldin... Can't say we've ever been there." Akito commented.

"No doubt." Emi agreed.

"Yes! Somewhere YOU guys actually haven't been!" QuadStar smirked. "That makes this even MORE fun!"

"Someone's excited." Jenny giggled.

"No kidding!" QuadStar smirked.

"I'm a little excited too," Jenny smiled. "I'm happy that you get to meet some new friends and have an adventure all your own."

"Oh. Thanks." LJ replied as they approached Veldin.

"This is it," Ace told the others. "Planet Veldin."

"Brace for impact," Tech told the others. "...Duck, what are you doing?"

Duck turned around. "Nothing! Nothing at all, why do you ask?" he grinned sheepishly.

"You have to keep your eyes on him." Felicity advised LJ and Zofia.

"Yeah, I figured." LJ replied.

"Hey-what's-that-lemme-see?" Rev asked, snatching Duck's MP4 player. "No-way-Courtney Gears?"

"You're telling me he's watching one of those music videos by Courtney Gears?" Tech snickered.

"Hey! Mind your own beeswax, guys!" Duck complained.

"Uh, Courtney Gears?" Felicity asked. "Is that a pop star?"

"Apparently she's this robotic pop star who's pretty popular in this sector," Ace explained, reading from the database. "And while she mostly projects a cute, sweet attitude in her early work, some of her later work has been, shall we say, rather provocative?"

"Hmm... Interesting choice of music, Duck." Lee smirked.

Duck grumbled to himself.

"I like the Cheetah Girls myself." Estelle smirked as well.

"That WOULD explain why I keep hearing muffled grunting from Duck's room every night for the past two weeks; not to mention the odd scent of sweat and shame." Tech smirked, as Duck turned red.

"Sh-Shut up!" Duck grumbled.

Slam was even laughing at Duck as he pretended to sing like Courtney Gears just to mess with him.

"You're all despicable!" Duck glared to his teammates.

"Yeah, whatever, Señor Sweaty Palms," LJ smirked. "Besides, we're about to land."

Duck rolled his eyes as the others teased him.

"Well, that certainly was interesting." Tech chuckled as they were on their way to their mission/adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

The ship landed on Veldin, a few minutes before a teenage Lombax ran past them.

"Gotta get there...I just gotta...!" he huffed as he ran.

"What the heck was that?!" Felicity yelped.

"That's...a Lombax!" Tech gasped. "Nobody's seen one of those in years!"

"A Lombax, huh?" Jenny replied. "Can't say I've heard of that before."

"Well, you guys are from the 21st century." Ace replied.

"Not to mention sometimes hang out here and sometimes see The Jetsons family." Akito commented, offhandedly.

LJ just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just go civilian and ask him what's going on." he suggested.

They soon parked their air jet and they came out to explore as the Lombax appeared to be running off.

"Hey, buddy, slow down!" Akito said as he ran to catch up with the Lombax. "What's up?"

"Whoa!" The Lombax yelped as he slid to a halt. "No time to talk. I gotta get to the city so I can make it to the Galactic Ranger try-outs!"

"Oh, cool," Akito replied. "Um, at least let us come with you."

"Uh, okay." The Lombax replied as he got back to running towards the city.

"Follow me, guys!" Akito smiled. "We're gonna see these Galactic Rangers up close!"

"By the way, my name's Ratchet." the Lombax introduced himself.

"Hey, Ratchet," Akito smiled. "I'm Akito, and those are my friends. I'll introduce ya later."

"Okay!" Ratchet replied. "Aleero City, here we come!"

Akito smiled as he looked to the others and had them follow him.

"He was always the persistent one." Chip commented.

"Eh... I don't see it." LJ shrugged.

They soon followed after Ratchet to get where he was planning on going before he ran into them.

* * *

Eventually, they arrived in Aleero City, where the try-outs were being held, and the citizens were celebrating.

"What a turn-out." LJ commented.

"I think I'm gonna like this adventure." Akito smirked to himself.

"This is gonna be so awesome!" Ratchet beamed.

**_"Ladies and Gentlemen, get on your feet, put your hands together, and give a big Planet Veldin welcome to the Galactic Rangers!"_** The loudspeaker announced.

Everyone else applauded out of excitement.

"Looks good so far." Lee commented.

**_"First up, she'll shoot first and ask questions when she's good and ready: Cora Veralux!"_** The loudspeaker then introduced the girl of the team.

LJ gave an impressed whistle. "Not bad, not bad." he remarked.

The female lunged out and soon shot what was like fireworks into the sky. A lot of the crowd tried to catch the falling sparks from the sky.

**_"You loved him in Grapplemania, you'll love him more as a Galactic Ranger,"_ **The loudspeaker then continued. "Get ready to feel the pain of Brax 'The Brute' Lectrus!"

"Yeah, baby!" Brax whooped.

"He doesn't look so tough." Slam smirked, almost challengingly.

"Maybe you two can share a wrestling ring." Akito smirked back to the Tasmanian Devil.

"Don't get cocky, big guy." LJ advised.

"We shall see." Slam smirked.

"Provided a certain duck tries not to make money off of it like last time." Akito then said in a warning tone of voice.

Duck rolled his eyes.

**_"And finally, ladies and gentlemen, the savior of Solana: Captain Qwark!"_ **The loudspeaker soon concluded.

Everyone cheered as the large, muscular man emerged from behind the curtain.

"Hello, Veldin!" Qwark exclaimed.

"Hello, Captain!" Ratchet grinned.

But Qwark ended up walking through a literal firewall, which left him covered with flames.

"He's on fire again." Brax commented.

"I know." Cora replied as she dispatched an extinguisher bot to put out the fire.

"My name is Copernicus Qwark, and yes, that was an impressive wall of fire I just walked past," Qwark explained as the fire was extinguished. "I'm going to be real with you folks for a moment; when President Phyronix recommended I take on a new ranger, I knew just where to go."

"Hmm..." Felicity paused, feeling unsure about this Captain Qwerk character.

"That's right! We want _you_!" Captain Qwerk grinned as he pointed into the audience much to their delight.

"Yeah!" Ratchet beamed.

"The galaxy is a dangerous place: space pirates, invasions, supernovas," Qwark continued. "I know what you're wondering- 'do I have what it takes'?"

An image of a villainous being appeared on the screen behind him among with a few others.

"After all, you may not have prevented Dr. Nefarious from atomizing Aleero City," Captain Qwerk told them. "You may not have stopped Neftin Prog from rendering the entire population of Aridia color-blind! Twice! After all, you may not have this chiseled jaw or god-like pectoral region, but if you have heart, then you have what it takes."

"YEAH!" Ratchet cheered.

* * *

And so, began some interviews.

"Come on, buddy, you got this!" Akito coached Ratchet.

"...You DON'T have what it takes." Captain Qwark told Ratchet later.

"But I have heart." Ratchet replied.

"Yes, but unfortunately that heart is encased in a weak, muscleless mass of inexperience," Captain Qwerk replied, leaning back in his chair, crossing his legs. "Plus, there's your history to consider."

Ratchet winced at that as Cora brought up his file.

"You got a long line of citations here," Cora informed. "Possession of an illegal gravity repulsor-"

"Oh, that was a misunderstanding," Ratchet spoke up. "I thought that space pirate was on the level!"

"Operation of a black-market accelerator." Brax added.

"Operation is a strong word," Ratchet stated. "It blew up as soon as I turned it on!"

"Willful disruption of the space-time continuum?" Cora continued.

"That is a funny story." Ratchet smiled nervously.

"You're reckless, you're a loose cannon, and you're dangerous," Captain Qwerk glared to him. "That's my shtick." he then began to kick him out to reject his offer of wanting to be a Galactic Ranger.

"Wait, just gimme a chance!" Ratchet begged.

"Sorry, no time! Galaxy in jeopardy!" Captain Qwerk told Ratchet while shooing him out. "Get back out there, and remember, you can do anything... As long as you're me. Next!"

"I guess that was a fun time." Emi deadpanned.

"Yeah, fun like a crummy conclusion to a prematurely cancelled TV series," LJ replied. "Sis, about that 13 Ghosts situation...?"

"Hm?" Zofia blinked.

"They made this film called Scooby-Doo & the Curse of the 13th Ghost, and from what I heard, it was a TOTAL letdown," LJ explained. "It basically said that the events of the 13 Ghosts were just some stupid hallucination! What a ripoff! What a waste of eight bucks! So forget it! We're NOT doing that story!"

Zofia nodded with two thumb's up to what her brother told her.

"Uh... What?" Ace asked.

"I don't think you should question it, Ace." Akito suggested to the bunny.

"Long story short: 34 years of buildup and the grand reault was a cheap write-off," LJ replied. "I am just so PISSED off right now!"

"Here he goes again..." Zofia sighed.

"Looks like I'm not the only one having a bad day." Ratchet commented.

"Yeah, no kidding," LJ replied. "I feel like I wasted my time! I'd have rather gone and seen a Captain Planet movie, if they bothered to MAKE one! I am full of rage and I need something to take it out on!"

The others stepped back slightly while Duck was zoning out to his music again.

LJ grabbed the music player and ground it to dust in his grip, then began punching the ground with all his might. "**RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!**" he screamed as a burst of flames shot from his mouth.

"What's his problem?" Duck asked.

LJ finally stopped, panting heavily as he collapsed in the dirt. Duck leaned over and then poked LJ with a stick. Duck leaned over and then poked LJ with a stick. He finally got up with a sigh.

"Better?" Zofia asked.

"...Actually... Yeah..." LJ replied with a smile.

Zofia gave a small smile back.

"So, now what?" Vincent asked.

Suddenly, screams of terror rang out in the city.

"What's going on?" asked Lexi.

"I think it might be what Zadavia sent us here for." LJ replied.

"Well, come on, we gotta stop it," Ace replied. "Let's jet!"

* * *

And they headed back into the city, where they saw Black Velvet and her shadow-bots wreaking havoc as the people screamed and ran.

"Velours Noir." Felicity whispered as she recognized the villainess.

"I didn't think we'd see her again." Lexi huffed about Black Velvet.

"Now we can see you guys in action." Ace said to LJ and Zofia.

"Alright," LJ replied as he became QuadStar. "I owe Black Velvet a lifetime's worth of thrashings!"

And with that, they moved out as Black Velvet laughed and spread her chaos. There were goons she had known as Shadowborgs who were helping out like when she threatened Acmetropolis.

"Hey, Black Velvet!" yelled QuadStar. "I got a bone to pick with you!" he plowed through the Shadowborgs with relative ease.

"Ah... It appears I have some new and old friends... So nice..." Black Velvet smirked. "Hello, Felicity."

Felicity narrowed her eyes before they flashed.

"Hey! Your fight isn't with my sister," LJ snapped. "It's with me: HER BROTHER!"

"This should be interesting then." Black Velvet smirked.

"Yeah," QuadStar smirked back as his hands lit up with fireballs. "I'll teach YOU for trying to manipulate my sister!"

"Let's see about that then." Black Velvet smirked back.

It was now a fight between the darkness and the fire.

"What do they call you then?" Black Velvet asked QuadStar.

"My name is QuadStar. And if you mess with my sister, then you mess with ME," QuadStar explained. "Have a taste of my comet cruiser special!" he remarked as he summoned some rocks and combined them with his fireball. "Or as I like to call it, the Volcanic Panic!"

"Volcanic Punch! That's a good one, buddy!" Chip beamed.

"Ooh, clever!" QuadStar beamed. "Boy, you ARE smart! Now I get why Felicity likes ya." he wound up, spun his arm, and shot the volcano ball at Black Velvet.

Black Velvet dodged the volcano ball and soon shot out some electric volts from her cape towards QuadStar.

"Look out!" Chip cried out.

"Whoa! Rock and rumble!" QuadStar shouted as a rocky coating surrounded his body. The lightning struck him, but didn't even affect him. "Good thing I remembered that rocks can't conduct electricity."

"Hmm... You're smarter than you look, but that may not be saying much." Black Velvet smirked.

"Just leave moi and my family alone!" Felicity cried out. "You can't bewitch me no more!"

"Yeah, or else I'll MAKE you!" QuadStar added. "I've got plenty more where THAT came from!"

"All right, I'm not afraid of rejection or losing, I just like an interesting banter now and again." Black Velvet grinned.

"Yeah, well let's say I'm pretty mad about what'cha did to my sis," QuadStar replied. "And I feel like getting EVEN!" He began charging a series of volcano balls and launching them wildly with furious rage.

Black Velvet smirked as she dodged them with ease while fighting back with her own powers.

"What're you doing here anyway?" Lexi glared.

"Oh, just helping out some friends in need." Black Velvet smirked.

QuadStar snorted. "You? Have friends? I don't buy it." he remarked as he seemed to vanish from sight.

"Now where did he go?" Black Velvet narrowed her crimson eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a heavy blow to the back of her head. "What's wrong, can't find me?" QuadStar's voice snickered.

"I could've done that!" Duck complained. "That kid's gonna steal my job!"

"Peek-a-boo, I see you!" QuadStar cackled as he faded from sight again and shot an invisible fireball at Black Velvet.

Black Velvet dodged what she could and that seemed to hit Duck instead.

"Whoops." Zofia said nervously for Duck's sake.

QuadStar finally turned visible again, and extended his fist to deliver a haymaker to her chin. Black Velvet growled to the others in annoyance.

"Still hungry for more?" QuadStar asked. "Or have you had your fill?"

"I have to admit, you fight pretty well for a newbie." Black Velvet commented.

"Thanks," QuadStar replied. "Same to you."

"Maybe you'd like to join the dark side." Black Velvet smirked.

"Don't do it, QuadStar!" Felicity cried out.

"Thanks, but no thanks," QuadStar replied. "I'm happy with my friends AND being a hero."

"I'm sure you could make some fellas happy with your abilities." Black Velvet smirked.

"Oh, just get out of here," Zofia narrowed her eyes. "Carpe Diem."

"What are you implying...?" QuadStar asked Black Velvet.

"Never mind it for now... You're clearly not interested..." Black Velvet replied. "I'll just pack up my things and go."

"Hey, since you're leaving, might as well fill me in," LJ replied. "Might as well know WHAT I'm saying no to."

"No, no, I shouldn't waste your time." Black Velvet smirked in a bewitching way.

"C'mon, tell me!" QuadStar replied. "Pleeeeeease?"

Black Velvet soon stopped and turned around with a small smirk. "Well, I have this friend who seems interested in you as much as I was in your sister."

"Really now?" QuadStar asked. "Any name on that?"

"Oh, no one special..." Black Velvet smirked. "Just Dr. Nefarious."

"Dr. Nefarious?" QuadStar wondered. "Intriguing..."

"Yes... But too bad, right?" Black Velvet replied.

"Yeah. What can ya do?" QuadStar shrugged. "Them's the breaks," "Now you'd best be leaving, or else I'll have to teach you the same lesson again." he added, aiming a fiery hand at her.

The others got into defensive stances, ready to strike just in case.

"See you around, you too, Loonatics." Black Velvet smirked as she began to leave.

QuadStar glared as Black Velvet left.

"That wasn't too bad, I suppose." Felicity commented about Black Velvet's meddling.

"Yeah," LJ replied. "Least I sent her packing."

"Knowing her though, she'll come back later." Felicity said.

LJ nodded. "Persistent. I respect that." he remarked.

"Good work out there though, kid," Ace smiled. "You could be Loonatic material yerself like when we met the others."

"Hm... Thanks." LJ replied.

"So, now what, Ace?" Lexi asked.

"I guess we could go back to what we were doin' before." Ace shrugged.

"Good idea." LJ shrugged, as they headed off.

* * *

They then walked off after a while. Felicity rubbed her eyes and just sighed as she felt exhausted just having to see Black Velvet again.

LJ patted his sister on the shoulder. "It's alright. She's not gonna take advantage of you OR me or Zofia." he urged.

"Aw, you're so sweet," Felicity smiled to him. "Like sugar~"

LJ blushed. "Aw, shucks..." he replied.

Chip smiled to that as they walked off after taking care of Black Velvet.

"I guess at least it wasn't Mallory Case again." Tech commented.

"Mallory Case?" asked LJ curiously. "Who's that?"

Tech grunted slightly, feeling embarrassed.

"An enemy of course, but she had an interesting past," Felicity told her brother. "She used to be tutored by Tech before she was given evil powers. She's now known as Mastermind."

LJ chuckled at this. "Must have a problem finding a hat..." he remarked.

"I'd have to agree with that." Felicity smirked herself.

The group laughed at this as they continued their trek on foot.

"I feel bad that Ratchet didn't make it as a Galactic Ranger, I wish I could do something." Akito frowned.

"Yeah, me too," LJ replied. "Question is, WHAT?"

"Making friends because friendship is magic!" Jenny giggled playfully.

"Jenny." Vincent smirked as his girlfriend was being goofy for once.

Suddenly, they looked up at the sound of engines roaring. They saw that the source was Ratchet, flying a ramshackle-old-spacecraft right over their heads.

"Ratchet?" The others asked as the Lombax was off.

"Looks like someone's in trouble, and this time, it's not me." Duck smirked to himself.

"I think we better follow him..." LJ commented. "He might be headed into some serious danger."

"Must we?" Duck replied.

"YES!" The others told him sharply.

"Besides, it IS our duty as heroes." Zofia added.

"Fine. Fine." Duck replied.

Felicity rolled her eyes slightly about Duck's behavior.

"To the ship!" Tech announced.

They went back into their own ship and soon decided to fly after Ratchet to see where he was going.


	3. Chapter 3

Soon, both ships were flying above New Aleero City... Which was being attacked by heavily-armored robots.

"Robots!" Akito cried out.

"Many robots!" Estelle added.

"Why couldn't it have been Rivet Town?" Vincent frowned as these robots didn't seem friendly.

LJ popped his knuckles. "Still means more fun. If only Kimberly and the others could see this. Too bad she and Chrissy are on that Rainbow Brite adventure, and Dib, Gaz, Billy, Mandy, Martin and Jenny are in this town called Evergreen." he remarked.

"Well, you could always take some pictures," Felicity suggested. "Next time though, we can all do something special so I can get to know them better, especially those Kimberly and Chrissy girls you always talk about."

"Well... Alright..." LJ replied. "Sounds like fun."

"Anyone see Ratchet yet?" Ace asked the others.

"Up ahead, sure..." Rev replied.

"Don't worry, we'll get him, and I'll help make sure of it." Tech told the others in reassurance.

"Okay then!" Lexi replied. "In the meantime, let's kick some 'bot!"

They landed and soon sprung out into superhero action.

"Okay, everyone, go time!" LJ shouted as he barreled through a pair of warbots.

"Come on, Slam, let's go high school football on 'em." Akito smirked to the Tasmanian Devil.

"Yeah!" Slam grinned in agreement before charging with Akito.

The duo tore through the war bots like they were piñatas... At least, poorly-crafted ones. Felicity had a bit of her own strength due to having vampire DNA, so had unholy strength which could come off as scary to some, but she didn't mind because it made her unique. LJ noticed that and was going to ask about it...but decided to wait until later. Chip fought pretty well on his own, he was giving some lessons brought to him by Adam, formerly known as the Beast since he had gotten a bit older and more outgoing. And Zofia was no slouch either, using her energy powers to short-circuit the robots.

"Nice one!" Akito smiled.

"Thanks!" Zofia smiled back.

Suddenly, the robots and Shadowborgs were lifted into the air...and following Ratchet's spaceship as he flew it away from the city, higher into the air.

"Whoa... Ratchet must be luring those tin heads outta town with some kinda super-powered magnet!" LJ noted.

"Maybe Ratchet is smarter than we realize." Chip shrugged.

"No kidding; the kid has potential!" Ace nodded. But just then, the ship began to nosedive, before the bots collided in a shower of explosions that would make Michael Bay cream his pants.

"And I say BOOM! I put it in the hoop like SLAM! I heard the crowd screaming out JAM!~" Lee sang with a smirk. "I swear that I'm tellin' you the facts, 'Cuz that's how I beat Shaq~"

"Focus, dude!" LJ snapped. "What about Ratchet?"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Lee replied. "Keeping an eye out for this Ratchet fellow."

At that moment, a small blue ship shot out of the smoke and fired a rocket, which turned and headed right back towards a Captain Qwark statue, which got its head blown off. The ship then veered out of control and flew through the city, crashing through a billboard on the way.

"Anybody hurt?" Ace asked.

"Physically or emotionally?" Duck grumbled.

"We're good," LJ replied, as Ratchet's ship began spiraling downwards...until the last second, where it managed to pull up and return to normal flight mode.

"Whoa!" The others yelped from that.

"Hey, it looks like Ratchet has a new friend." Emi pointed out.

Apparently next to Ratchet inside the spacecraft was a 2-foot-tall robot with bright green eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the ground, the Galactic Rangers could barely manage to hold off the Warbots for long.

"Finish them!" demanded their leader, Victor von Ion.

A smoke bomb soon exploded as the Galactic Rangers had their own work to do. Cora and Brax soon shot back against the robots who were attacking them.

"Ratchet, I believe I may have an idea," Clank suggested. "Your weapons system comes equipped with a mag-booster. I am rewriting the software to isolate the Raretanium alloy that we are made up of."

"Great idea, Clank!" Ratchet smiled to him in agreement.

And as Clank got to work on rewiring, the Rangers were busy trying to hold back the army of Warbots that was now circling them.

"Bring it on!" Cora glared.

"There's too many of them!" Brax cried out.

"Hold steady, Rangers!" Captain Qwerk told them.

"I'm starting to think Hercules's admiration for Buzz Lightyear is better than this guy." Akito commented.

Suddenly once again, the robots were lifted into the sky by the Mag-Booster, and Ratchet's ship took them into the air, deactivating the Magbooster before the Warbots were smashed into a nearby building and blown to bits.

"Prepare to die, Galactic Losers!" The robot leader glared.

"Think again, bolt-butt," Ace remarked as he used his ears to point behind him. "Your army is gone."

The robot leader snarled as he spun on his heels to see the group.

"Hello, there," Felicity smirked. "It looks like you're trying to destroy this world. May we stop you without helping you and just annoying you?"

Victor looked up and saw his warbot warriors go up in an explosion. "No... No... NO!" he growled angrily.

"So sad!" Estelle smirked.

The citizens of New Aleero emerged from their hiding places...and as Ratchet and Clank landed their ship, the people broke into cheering. Even the Loonatics looked happy for the new duo. This was soon reported on the news and it was all thanks to them which was sure to go down in history. And Qwark had to swallow his pride and let them join the Galactic Rangers, due to the lingering threat of the Blarg.

"This is so cool!" Akito beamed. "Isn't this cool, you guys?! It's so cool!"

"Replace 'cool' with the word 'awesome' and Akito will evolve into Aunt Rainbow Dash." Estelle remarked in a CinemaSins sort of way.

"Let's not go THAT far," LJ advised. "Qwark is enough egomaniac for the entire galaxy."

"Sorry, guys, I'm just so excited for Ratchet." Akito smiled.

"Yeah, I know, cuz," LJ smiled. "Me too."

"All right, everyone, let's give these heroes some breathing room," Captain Qwark grinned as he stood in front of Ratchet and Clank. "I'm happy to field all questions on their behalf."

"Captain Qwark!" A newswoman piped up. "Juanita Alvaro, HoloVid Nightly. The Blarg have been underground for over 50 years. Could their return be linked to the destroyed planets?"

"I think that's being a little alarmist, don't you, Juanita?" Captain Qwark replied with a small chuckle.

"Begging your pardon, Captain," Tech interjected. "But this Drek guy IS responsible."

"And his attack today proves that he is only getting started." Clank concluded.

Captain Qwark looked bored from that, even though the crowd gasped. "Now, now! We must all stay calm," The man soon said with a modest grin. "Everything is under control."

"Captain Qwark! Dallas Wannamaker here," A newsman spoke up. "Does that mean you'll be asking these two heroes to join the Rangers?"

"Er...I...um...don't...see why...not?" Qwark replied nervously, as the crowd went wild over this bit of news.

The crowd then went back into cheering as that was great news for all of them. Captain Qwark soon grinned nervously and picked up Ratchet and Clank in his hands.

"Looks like things are looking up for those two." LJ remarked.

"Sure is," Zofia smiled in agreement. "It's rather nice."

"You heard it here, folks!" The newsman announced. "The search for a new Galactic Ranger is over! Aleero City will never forget the day it was saved by a... A cat thingy."

"Lombax!" Tech yelled.

"Uh, what he said." The newsman then said, hearing the coyote.

Tech nodded.

"You're coming with us." Brax told Ratchet and Clank.

"Good luck, you two." Ace nodded.

"Awesome!" Ratchet beamed.

"Friends of yours?" Clank asked him about the others since this was his first time meeting them.

"More or less, yeah." LJ replied.

"Greetings." Clank told them.

"Um, thanks," Zofia smiled. "What a cute little robot. Reminds me a little of WALL•E."

"Thank you... I think." Clank replied.

Zofia smiled to him.

"Too bad ya can't come with us." Ratchet said to them.

"Yeah, that's a bummer, even though we did give our fair share of help during the fight." LJ shrugged.

"You know these guys?" Brax asked.

"Uh, yeah," Ace replied. "More or less."

"Hmm... I guess you could come along for a little bit." Brax suggested.

"Alright!" Rev whooped.

"Hm... That was convenient." Lexi commented.

"Wasn't it, though?" Chip replied.

* * *

They soon left the scene and they were now going with the Galactic Rangers with Ratchet and Clank.

"Our training program usually lasts three years, but we've been cleared to attack Drek Industries in three days." Brax explained.

"Good to know." Lee smiled out of intrigue.

"That means all of you are getting the accelerated course," Brax continued.

"We're gonna be trained by Brax Lectrus?!" Ratchet gushed. "The guy's a LEGEND!"

"I do not suppose you offer introductory courses in aviation?" Clank spoke up.

"No offense, little guy-" Brax said to him.

"To the max!" Ratchet beamed in the background.

"But I don't think flying's really your thing," Brax continued. "Captain Qwark suggested we put you in a position a little less-"

"Dangerous?" Clank guessed.

Brax nodded at that.

* * *

They soon came to the Galactic Rangers Intelligence Center where there was a woman shown who seemed to be playing computer games.

"Ha! That's right, LivesAtHome472," The woman laughed in victory. "What's the matter? Don't like getting your butt kicked? What are you going to do, cry to your mommy?" she then paused as she suddenly heard crying. "Wait, are you really crying?"

Tech's eyes went wide at the sight of her, and his cheeks went red.

"Hey, Elaris." Brax announced.

"Hi, Brax!" The woman replied cheerfully.

"Hey." Ace and Lexi smiled politely.

"Are these my new assistants?" Elaris asked.

"Greetings," Clank replied. "Your office is most, uh... Impressive."

Tech nodded in agreement.

"Elaris here is in charge of developing our gear and providing tactical support." Brax informed.

"Usually it's the former. The Rangers are the shoot-first-think-later type," Elaris clarified before chuckling until she caught herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that."

"Like what now?" Brax replied.

"C'mon. I'll show you around." Elaris replied.

Tech smiled. "Y'know what? I'd like that." he remarked.

"Sure thing, just come with me." Elaris smiled back.

"Let's go, Cadet," Brax told Ratchet. "Time to make you a Ranger."

Tech waved to the others as they left. Elaris soon began to show the others who were with her around. And suffice to say, Tech was pretty impressed by the set-up.


	4. Chapter 4

Brax soon took Ratchet into a training zone before the doors opened. "Well, good luck." He told the Lombax before shoving him into the room.

"Huh?" LJ blinked. "Wonder what he meant by that...?"

"Welcome, Cadet!" Captain Qwark's voice said before the floor raised up with them.

"Whoa! Goin' up." Akito commented.

"And here I am without a helmet... Or a seat-belt." Lexi commented.

They soon stopped right then and the windows lit up to show Captain Qwark with some others monitoring them.

"Let's get you into your new proto-suit," Captain Qwark smiled. "Your proto-suit is the most advanced combat armor on the market. And it comes in all the latest Fall colors!"

LJ gave a whistle. "Hochi-Machi... Wait'll Kimberly gets a load of ME..." he remarked.

"Sweet!" Ratchet smiled.

"Hmm... Not bad..." Akito admired the new look. "This might be a bit better than the Loonatics uniforms."

"Only by a little." Lexi replied.

"A neural sensor in your helmet reads your thoughts and telequips the desired weapon into your hands," Captain Qwark instructed, nearly sounding like a video game tutorial. "Try equipping your Combuster."

"Um... Okay. Combuster..." LJ replied.

Ratchet tried as that sounded simple, but nothing happened for him.

"I think your combuster thingy might be broken-" Lexi called up to the others.

Eventually, it began to work.

"There you go!" Captain Qwark told them.

**_'Combuster equipped.'_** The computer stated.

"Wicked." Ratchet grinned.

"So awesome!" LJ grinned back.

"I'm there with ya, buddy." Akito agreed.

"The Combuster is the backbone of the Rangers' arsenal, allowing you to hit targets in a short to medium range." Captain Qwark stated informatively.

"Ooh, Mommy like!" Lexi grinned.

Ratchet soon tried it out, though it looked a little awkward on his first time.

"This is embarrassing." Cora muttered.

"You're telling ME." Brax nodded.

* * *

"The Alpha Disruptor fires a deadly stream of plasma, allowing you to hit multiple targets at once." Captain Qwark informed as another tool was shown.

"Hey, that'd be a whole lotta fun with me especially with how fast I go." Rev commented with a smirk.

"Ooh, baby!" LJ grinned as he attempted to fire it.

Ratchet fired his, but he seemed to bounce around as it fired all around.

"See? He's got it," Captain Qwark told the others. "...Sort of."

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" LJ screamed as he was flung around by the Disruptor's force.

"This little baby's the Negotiator," Captain Qwark then introduced the next weapon. "Fires multiple long-range, high-impact rockets. Great versus heavy armor."

"I think I got it." Duck said as he tried it out for himself. He fired a few shots... Which immediately came back at him. He yelped from that and lost a few feathers in the process.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt!" LJ winced.

"Typical Duck..." Akito sighed.

"He just never learns." Ace added.

"Buzz Blades!" Captain Qwark then displayed.

Ratchet fired it...but it came back, so he had to dodge. But then half the platform fell off.

* * *

"The Warmonger." Captain Qwark introduced.

Ace soon began to shoot the weapon before smirking in success. He then yelped and hopped off the platform as the shots came to shoot right back at him. The others had to run and dodge to avoid the shots.

* * *

"I dunno. The Spiral of Death?" Captain Qwark soon said as he started to sound bored.

Slam started to shoot the spiral blade before shooting at all angles, trying to be careful.

"RUN FOR COVER!" LJ yelled as he ducked and hid.

"I don't think Slam's the best person to look after that thing!" Chip yelped.

"No kidding!" Zofia replied.

* * *

"Fusion Grenade?" Captain Qwark then presented.

LJ collapsed in a heap at that. Ratchet tossed the grenade and it bounced back and exploded on him.

"Oh, he's gonna feel that in the morning..." Lexi cringed.

"How am I doing?" Ratchet muffled as he was pressed against the glass before sliding down.

"Pretty cool about this for someone who just got humiliated in front of his idols." Chip commented.

"In short, not bad!" LJ replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, Clank continued to explore the office as Elsira did her own thing.

Tech, meanwhile, was admiring Elaris. "I gotta say... This is an awesome set-up..." he remarked. "But you're pretty awesome too."

"Oh, thanks," Elaris replied. "I don't mind it as much as the last guy who had this job: Dr. Nefarious. Drove him crazy. Literally. He turned evil."

"That guy looks like he could give Dr. Cortex a run for his money." Felicity commented.

"Or Dr. Robotnik, even..." Tech noted.

"Oh, Tech, you know Robotnik?" Estelle asked out of surprise and interest.

"Yeah, I heard of him. Used to be a brilliant scientific genius until he learned that this organization called G.U.N. killed his grandpa and cousin, then stole his grandpa's experiment: the ultimate life-form, Shadow the Hedgehog." Tech explained.

"Yeah, that's basically it." Felicity nodded.

"Ah. Good, then." Tech nodded.

"But don't worry," Elaris told them with a chuckle. "It won't happen to me."

"Well, that's a bit of a relief." Jenny commented.

"No kidding! Especially since Mallory was totally bonkers..." Tech sighed.

"Hmm... That's strange." Elaris said.

"What's up?" Jenny asked.

"I'm running a simulation based on the fragments we located from each destroyed planet," Elaris informed. "Each one is missing a famous landmass."

"Interesting," Tech nodded. "You would think someone who blows up planets might just destroy it completely. This is getting weirder."

"Well, perhaps the pieces are still out there," Clank suggested. "There is a lot of space in space."

"I guess, but it's worth bringing up to the captain, don't you think?" Elaris replied.

Tech snorted. "Like he's gonna listen. The guy has a thick skull," he replied. "If I were captain, I'd listen to you."

"That would be a refreshing change of pace." Elaris flashed him a smile.

Tech blushed. "I know, right?" he replied.

"Out of the way!" Captain Qwark's voice called out.

"Hey!" Ratchet's voice added.

"I don't like the sounds of that." Estelle frowned.

"Duck. And. Cover," Tech advised. "NOW!"

"Why?" Jenny asked.

"Trust me!" Tech replied.

They all soon ducked for cover to see what he meant. Captain Qwark soon flew in with some of the others, though Akito didn't need a jet pack as he could fly fine on his own.

"WAHOO!" LJ whooped as he rocketed through the hole, wearing a jet pack. "Sorry, guys."

Zofia let out a small sigh to that, but didn't say anything.

"Just relax!" Captain Qwark grinned as he hovered beside Ratchet and the others who had their own jet pack, except for Akito. "Everyone, stay calm! Something epic is happening!"

"Yeah! We got jet packs!" LJ whooped. "Now I can fly at last!"

"Yeah, flying's pretty fun." Akito smiled to him.

"I understand..." LJ nodded. "How come my dad can fly, but I can't?"

"Maybe you just don't have that gene?" Akito shrugged. "I mean, my dad's a Wiccan, but me and Estelle have Wiccan magic while Vincent doesn't."

LJ grumbled. "But Dad said that he got his powers when he turned 13. I figured I'd at least get them a little earlier..."

"Well, you know, you can't have everything." Akito shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm well-aware of THAT..." LJ rolled his eyes with a snort.

"Maybe I am. What's your point?" LJ replied, beginning to glance at his jet pack control pad.

"You don't have to be so jealous and bitter all the time," Akito told him. "Can't you just have fun with what you have?"

"Sound advice," LJ replied. "Maybe I'm just mad at myself for not joining in earlier."

"It's going to be okay." Akito replied.

LJ sighed. "I guess. I'm just kinda PO'd that I gotta do all this catching up to you and the others. Who knows how long THAT'S gonna take?"

"I don't know, but if you keep acting like a Grumpy Gus, you might as well just go back home." Akito stated.

"No, no, I'm sorry!" LJ replied. "I wanna stay and do this. Really."

"Do you promise?" Akito asked him, sounding mature for once.

"Cross my heart!" LJ nodded, drawing his finger across his chest in an X shape.

"All right then." Akito replied with a small nod back.

"That's the stuff," Captain Qwark smirked. "Flying in the air like a majestic bird, a majestic bird who knows every fighting style. Watch the master." he then turned around and began to fly off.

LJ rolled his eyes and just left the room.

* * *

"Captain, Elaris and I-" Clank spoke up.

"Can't talk." Captain Qwark told him.

"Have some information-" Clank continued.

"Doing a flyby." Captain Qwark replied, ignoring him.

Tech sighed. "Toldja he wouldn't listen..." he sighed.

Ratchet seemed to laugh along with Captain Qwark.

"Sir! If you could come down and speak to us for three minutes-" Elaris tried.

Tech just sighed. "I do admire her persistent nature, though..." he whispered.

Some of the others glanced to Tech before having slight smirks on their faces. Eventually, a fire alarm beeped along with some sprinklers going off from some smoke.

"And there are the sprinklers," Captain Qwark told them. "But, hey, good news! You already have a mop, huh? So, there's that."

Everyone rolled their eyes at that.

"Please! If we could have just a minute to discuss our findings." Clank piped up.

"The only thing I'm interested in finding is the Hall of Heroes cafeteria," Captain Qwark replied. "Let's go, Cadets. It's three floors, and it's Meatloaf Day!" he then told the others before flying off. "Meatloaf!"

"I don't even like meatloaf..." LJ remarked as he came back in and shut off his jetpack.

"I'm more of a steak fan myself." Akito replied.

LJ gave a chuckle. "Same. Though, I did some thinking, amd I came to a conclusion that there are worse things than missing out."

Ratchet just felt excited and soon flew after Captain Qwark to go and get something to eat.

"What I realized is that...if I keep holding on to my grudge over missing out...I might turn into as much of a blowhard as Qwark. And I know I SO don't want that. So...from the bottom of my heart: I'm sorry, cousin Akito." LJ sighed as he hugged his cousin.

"Hmm..." Akito paused for a moment and then hugged LJ back. "Alright."

LJ smiled as he and his cousin hugged. "Sides... At least this way I can learn for myself AND do stuff you guys haven't gotten to yet!" he remarked. "So sometimes, maybe I could teach YOU!"

"Heh," Akito replied. "I guess we'll have to see..." he then smirked a bit. "If I'm not too busy in The Wonderbolts Academy."

LJ smirked. "Lemme guess, another zany adventure?" he asked.

"Well, not yet, but maybe someday." Akito smirked back.

LJ shrugged. "I'll be looking forward to that day, then." he replied.

"Have fun with that." Akito commented.

The electricity seemed to run down a bit.

* * *

"Do they always treat you so poorly?" Clank asked the woman with them.

"Oh! No! ...Yes." Elaris replied.

Tech sighed. "It's not right, how little they value scientific genius like yours."

"That's just how my life is sometimes." Elaris replied.

"Well... I'm sorry." Tech replied.

"It's fine..." Elaris told him as she walked off with a sharp sigh. "I don't need pity."

Some time had passed and eventually, it seemed like everybody knew Ratchet's name as a Galactic Ranger. Tech still felt guilty about how much Elaris was neglected by her own teammates, and worried that if things kept going how they were, she would fall onto the same path as Nefarious. The others soon walked around town.

"Hm, it's almost as if Ratchet got famous overnight." Felicity commented.

"Yeah. He's the new face of the Galactic Rangers organization!" LJ added.

"Boy, for a big city, the people here sure are friendly." Ratchet smiled to the environment.

"And rather loud." Clank commented.

"Kinda reminds me of good ol' Acmetropolis." Ace replied. "How about you, Tech?"

"Ah, don't bother asking him," Duck replied. "He's too busy thinking about his science whiz girlfriend~!"

"Huh? What?" Tech asked.

"I rest my case." Duck smirked.

LJ just shook his head with a smile.

"I just got some things on my mind, okay?" Tech replied.

"It would be nice if you had a lady friend, Tech." Akito smirked.

"Yeah, it WOULD be cool..." Tech smiled.

Akito and Estelle chuckled to the coyote who rolled his eyes to that.

"Still, I don't like that they mistreat Elaris," Tech sighed. "She's beautiful and smart, and by Jones, she deserves better!"

"Yeah, Elaris is treated rather unfairly," Jenny replied. "Do you think maybe she'd like Acmetropolis?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure, but maybe that would be a good idea." Tech shrugged, though had to admit that it sounded nice.

"Maybe you could talk to her later," LJ suggested. "When she's feeling better emotionally."

"Yeah, I think I will," Tech nodded. "I used to think maybe Mallory would be the one for me... Until she came out as Mastermind."

"Well, don't do anything I wouldn't do," Duck advised. "I've had my share of girls in my day. I was quite the ladies duck in my childhood neighborhood before I was mysteriously taken away."

"What neighborhood?" Felicity replied from memory. "You came from an orphanage and got adopted!"

"Exaggeration." LJ nodded.

"Hm... Quite..." Duck replied.

"Hey, you told us," Felicity reminded him. "That's where Pinkster came from."

"Pinkster?" asked LJ curiously. "Anybody care to explain? Preferably the abridged version?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Felicity said. "Pinkster was an old friend of Duck's. We met him once as Loonatics."

"He tried to help us out, but turns out he was just making us look bad, and he turned out to be evil unlike his ancestor, Porky Pig," Akito said. "He was raised by a couple of villainous mobsters. He promised to return someday, but luckily, we haven't seen him since."

"Awesome! Possible sequel set-ups!" LJ grinned. "Maybe we could even have another showdown with that Weathervane character, too!"

"Eh, I just hope it goes a little easier from training," Vincent said bashfully. "At least we got to find out a little more about Mom's past because of WeatherVane."

"Cool!" LJ grinned. "But I'm gonna get tougher before we meet her."

"Would you like some help?" Akito smirked. "I know a bit of moves from masked wrestling from my old friends, Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea."

"Hehehe... Yeah, that's a cool idea." LJ smiled.

"All right, we're all set then!" Akito smirked. "I just love having someone to wrestle with in my spare time when I'm not training my Pokemon. Sometimes I spar with Estelle's boyfriend though."

"Sounds cool by me!" LJ replied.

Akito smiled back, feeling excited to hear that.

* * *

"Wow! Look at that!" Ratchet beamed as he pointed to a billboard.

"Hey, that's YOU!" Ace remarked.

"It sure is." Lexi commented as she took a look with him and the others.

"Well, whatya know, guys? I'm famous!" Ratchet smiled.

"Yes. Though I am sure it is exciting, my cultural database shows that fame is highly overrated and ultimately not rewarding," Clank replied. "Would you agree?"

"Eh, no WAY!" Ratchet replied. "All my life I've wanted to be known for great things, and now I get to!"

"Hmm... I expected that reaction," Emi commented. "Reminds me of Ash when he was younger before we met Pikachu."

"Really? Wow..." LJ remarked.

"Oh, yeah, Ash was very different when we were younger," Emi replied before looking to Felicity and the Fudo siblings. "Long before we met you guys."

"Whoa..." LJ noted. "This is WAY more backstory than I get from the anime!"

"I have quite a story myself," Emi replied. "I never knew about it until recently."

"Ah, I read THAT one." LJ nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, do you think they'll name a street after me?" Ratchet smiled as he got excited. "Or a cologne? 'Ratchet. Smell like a hero'."

"Needs work..." LJ noted.

"There he is!" A man called out before running with a crowd as they clamored around Ratchet.

"Fan club, ahoy." Lexi commented.

"Where's my fan club?!" Duck pouted.

"To have a fan club, you need fans." LJ replied. "See what I mean with this?"

"Hey!" Duck glared.

"He's right, Duck." Felicity clarified.

"Grazie." LJ smiled.

"Easy, now," Ratchet smirked to his new adoring public as he began to sign autographs. "There's no rush. Believe me, I could do this all day."

"Looks like you might not get the chance." LJ replied.

"Whatya mean?" Ratchet asked before his answer was soon questioned.

"Sorry, folks, but, unfortunately, we don't have time for this nonsense," Captain Qwark told the people before smiling hopefully and smugly. "I'm about to reveal my awesome plan for the attack on Drek Industries, unless, of course, anyone would like my autograph."

Everyone ignored Qwark and kept crowding around Ratchet.

"Chirp. Chirp. Chirp." Felicity whispered, imitating a cricket.

LJ chuckled at that, then imitated snoring.

"Good... Because... We don't have time." Captain Qwark told the crowd before taking Ratchet to go with him.

"And that's the end of that..." LJ sighed.

"I love you all!" Ratchet smiled and waved as he was carried off by Captain Qwark.

"At least he's modest." Tech commented.

"Could he be worse than Kent Powers?" Felicity commented.

"Nah, that guy's up there with Zapp Brannigan and Qwark." LJ replied.

"I think Zapp Brannigan's a good comparison." Zofia agreed with her brother.

"Once more, grazie!" LJ replied.

"I guess we better go after Ratchet before he loses his head." Ace suggested.

"So we can be there to catch it." Lexi added.

"As if Duck wasn't bad enough." Ace agreed.

"Hey!" Duck glared as they went to follow after Ratchet.

"You do got a bit of an ego on ya, Duck, buddy." Rev commented.

"True. I doubt we could all carry it." LJ replied.

Clank seemed to be left behind as they went to Ratchet and the other Galactic Rangers.

"Well, why shouldn't we come along?" Tech commented. "After all, Zadavia allowed us to become The Guardians of the Galaxy after we took care of Optimatus."

"You sure? There are only so many of you, and the galaxy is a VERY big place." LJ replied.

"Well, she decided on it," Tech defended. "Not to mention we're from a different time period than you kids are."

"Hey, that's right," Akito smirked. "That means we're older than ya! Do my homework!"

"Nice try." Ace smirked back to that.

"I'm just saying: you might need more teammates to help you cover the whole universe!" LJ explained.

"Well, if it helps, sometimes my brother comes around to help out," Rev spoke up. "Also Tech has a little friend of his that ex-Princess Ixta looks after."

"Princess Ixta, huh?" LJ asked.

"Queen Grannicus's granddaughter who is now raised and adopted by Zadavia and Uncle Planet." Estelle informed.

"I see..." LJ nodded.

"She's really cool," Akito said. "Maybe next time you'll see her if she's not too busy with Eddie."

"Hmm... Okay." LJ replied.

* * *

They soon came with Ratchet as Captain Qwark took them away from the adoring public for the Lombax which appeared to be a meeting place complete with a slideshow presentation.

"All right, Rangers, our plan of attack is simple," Captain Qwark told them, going over a special plan. "HALO drop into Skorg City, fire a whole mess o' bullets, and take Drek into custody so we can be home in time for waffles."

"Simple, isn't it?" Ace commented.

"Yeah, waffles!" Brax cheered.

"Wait, that's our plan?" Elaris replied.

Captain Qwark let out a sharp exhale before grinning proudly. "Yes, it is."

Tech sighed. "THAT... Is as stupid as hitting a bear in the face, biting its tail and running out of the cave hoping you can outrun it in time," he replied. "But hey: simple plans for simple minds."

"Quite... Seems like something Slam would come up with." Duck added before laughing at his own joke.

Slam growled at him from nearby. Duck flinched nervously from that reaction.

"Pardon me, Captain, but Chairman Drek is cunning," Clank spoke up. "He will be prepared for our assault."

"Look, I think it is beyond adorable that you decided to do all this homework, but big heroes do big things," Captain Qwark replied. "Each second we waste talking is a second Drek could use to destroy another planet."

"Exactly, which is why we cannot afford to just rush in like idiots!" Tech explained. "Because Drek will be COUNTING on that so he can TRAP you!"

"Exactly, we need to review our plan." Elaris added in agreement.

"Does anyone else feel like we should have shot something by now?" Brax complained. "Because it really feels like we should have shot something by now."

"Thank you!" Cora replied.

"For ONE STUPID MINUTE, would YOU GET YOUR VIOLENCE-ADDICTED HEADS OUT OF THE CLOUDS AND JUST THINK FOR ONCE?!" Tech snapped. "This kind of foolishness is why Nefarious went evil!"

"Let's take a vote," Captain Qwark suggested. "All those in favor of kicking in Drek's front door with a massive arsenal and restoring peace to a galaxy in turmoil, say 'Aye'."

"Aye!" Ratchet, Brax, and Cora replied.

"All those in favor of nerding it up here with some pie charts, say 'Nay'." Captain Qwark then said.

Tech just facepalmed. "FINE THEN! GO AHEAD AND GET YOURSELVES KILLED BY ACTING LIKE IDIOTS! SEE IF THIS COYOTE GIVES A FLYING FLOBNAR!" he shouted.

The others were soon in stunned silence.

* * *

"I don't think I've ever seen Tech get like that before." Akito commented.

"You can only push a fella so far until he snaps." LJ noted.

"Motion passes. We assault Drek Industries tonight!" Captain Qwark grinned.

"Welp, you're doomed," LJ noted. "I'll be writing your epitaphs!"

Tech soon went into a hallway as he looked a bit frustrated with Captain Qwark's stupidity. "Stupid big-chinned IDIOT... Ignoring the suggestions of that beautiful genius...!" he grumbled, unaware that Elaris heard him. "He wouldn't know a good attack plan if it hit him in the jawline!"

"Beautiful?" Elaris whispered to herself. "Could he mean me?"

"I mean, Elaris deserves WAY more respect!" Tech remarked out loud. "I just don't wanna see her end up like Nefarious...because I love her, Blanc-damn it!"

Elaris paused and looked emotional, though mostly because she felt touched. No one had ever said stuff about her like that before.

"They're gonna see, though," Tech continued. "The plan is gonna fail. Because sure they give us wedgies and shove our heads in toilets, but when everything goes to pot, everyone always turns to the brainiacs to help them."

Elaris nodded to that as she kept hidden as she put her hand on her chest as she began to feel something she hadn't felt before.

"Well, I feel better," Tech shrugged. "Might as well get back in there." And he headed back into the room.

Elaris let out a small gasp.

"Ah! Miss Elaris, excuse me." Tech said as he nearly ran into her.

"Um... Hello, there... I... Uh... Hello." Elaris replied.

"Sorry if I almost bumped into ya," Tech remarked. "Just had to get some stuff off my chest."

"Um, that's okay, I get that." Elaris reassured.

Tech blushed. "Oh. Well... Great. So... You got anything planned for later?" he asked.

"Besides being ignored by the Galactic Rangers, I don't think so." Elaris replied modestly.

"Hey. Mind if I join you?" Tech asked. "We can...be ignored together."

"It would be refreshing to have some company." Elaris gave a small smile.

"Cool!" Tech grinned. "So it's a... Date?"

"Yes... It's a date... Uh, socially of course." Elaris replied bashfully herself.

"Uh... Yeah," Tech replied. "That... Works for me."

Elaris gave a small smile while Tech smiled back. It seemed like perfect chemistry between the two so far.

"Well, the Galactic Rangers are going away, what should we do?" Jenny wondered as she pet her and Vincent's Ninetails who sat in her lap while purring from the petting.

"Might as well do something to kill time before they get back," LJ replied. "Yo, Aki, you up for that sparring match you suggested?"

"Sure thing, bud!" Akito smiled as he drank from his water bottle.

"That oughta be fun." LJ replied as he did a few jabs in the air.

Akito finished up his drink before he soon jumped high in the air and soon landed right in front of LJ with his fists put up. "I gotta warn ya," he then smirked. "My dad's a bit stronger than Hercules, and luckily, I was blessed with the same ability. My dad's had some training from the amazing man known as Goku even. I gotta warn you, this might not be so easy."

"Oh, I know about Son Goku," LJ replied. "That just makes this WAY more fun!"

"Tell me about it," Akito smiled before running up to LJ like in a wrestling ring. "Emi, ya wanna watch?"

"Sure!" Emi beamed to her boyfriend as she checked on her friends' Pokemon.

"C'mon!" LJ cracked his knuckles and got into a fighting stance.

Akito smirked and soon grabbed a hold of LJ and held him over his head.

"Whoa!" LJ remarked. "The heat is ON!" and in. A flash, his body lit up like a torch.

"Seriously! How do you do that?!" Akito asked him.

"An incident involving the Super Skrull," LJ explained. "Happened when I was 5..."

"Hmm... Ya don't say," Akito said before setting LJ down before tackling him to the ground with a small smirk. "Well, Superman is like my grandfather, so I'll be just fine wrestling you no matter what you do."

"Ooh, lucky YOU!" LJ replied with a snort. "So this oughta be fun!"

"Yep!" Akito smirked. "Reach for the skies, Fantastic Boy! I'm gonna launch you into outer-space and banish you to Planet Neptune! Say hi to Bliss for me."

"No way, hombré!" LJ remarked. "The name's QuadStar, and I don't give up easy!"

"Yeah, you're showing that really well right now." Akito chuckled.

"Bliss... Neptune... What?" Zofia asked.

"You didn't hear?" Felicity replied. "After the Power of Four saga, Drell ran into Bliss and banished her to the Planet Neptune to never be seen or heard from again."

"Oh, thank GOD!" LJ remarked. "Bet Mom and Dad will be happy about THAT!"

Akito laughed as he continued to wrestle LJ as it was a lot of fun.

"Dang...you're GOOD!" LJ remarked as he extended his legs to dodge Akito's tackle.

"Thanks!" Akito replied before chuckling. "Hey, that kinda tickles."

"Okay..." LJ replied as he turned rocky. "Here comes the ol' Sunday Punch!"

Akito smirked as he bent down, feeling determined from it anyway. LJ wound up his fist and slammed it right at Akito. Some of the others grimaced to that.

"Oof!" Akito yelped, but unlike many people who would've gotten hit by that, he wasn't hurt TOO bad.

"Holy, Akito-you took the Sunday Punch!" LJ remarked. "Wow, you ARE resilient!"

"That's like whenever my dad bear hugs me after he comes back from an out of the country case." Akito smiled.

"I see..." LJ noted.

Akito soon picked up LJ again and spun him around playfully like a toy, sticking his tongue out and then had LJ land flat on the floor next to him, leaving a crack in the middle of it.

LJ sprang up and brushed himself off. "Dang... You are GOOD!" he commented.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you, did you?" Akito asked out of concern. "You just didn't seem like that would hurt a whole lot."

"Nah, it's cool. I'm alright," LJ replied as he got back up. "Just impressed, that's all."

"Maybe you should visit the School of Lucha with me." Akito smiled.

"Sounds like fun." LJ replied.

"I like it," Akito smiled. "I had to help my new friends there against a dark and evil force known as El Malefico."

"Hmm... Must've been one heck of a battle." LJ replied.

"Oh, trust me, it was," Akito said. "I had to help them with the Artifacts of Buenaness. Long story, I'll tell ya later."

"I guess you guys went too?" Zofia asked Estelle, Vincent, and Felicity.

"No, we were staying home at the time," Estelle replied. "It seemed like Akito was The Chosen One."

"That feels like a very frequent theme in most of these future stories..." LJ commented.

Akito rubbed his arm bashfully about that.

"But whatever." LJ shrugged.

"You're not mad, are ya?" Akito asked. "A mad friend is worse than losing a friend."

"No, dude. I promise I'm not angry," LJ replied. "Though my head sure smarts a little..."

"Sorry about that," Akito said. "We can take a break if you need one. That was fun!"

LJ smirked. "No kidding. But maybe just a little break."

"Yeah, let's take a break," Akito smiled. "Thanks, LJ, I needed that."

Felicity smiled as the two of them seemed to become friends.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Elsewhere, back with the scientific group..._**

Jenny went to come along since she had an interest in science after she met Tech for the first time. And speaking of Tech, he and Elaris were monitoring the mission together, and making unflattering impressions of the other 3 Galactic Rangers (minus Ratchet).

"Um, excuse me?" Jenny spoke up which made them look at her. "Mind if I join you for a bit?"

"Jenny... Sure..." Tech smiled to the young rich girl. "Come on in."

And so Jenny came inside. Tech smiled to her and let her come in.

"Hi, Elaris." Jenny smiled.

"Oh, hello there." Elaris greeted.

"Hope you don't mind an extra guest for our monitor duty." Tech smiled.

"That's all right," Elaris said. "You two close?"

"Probably not as much as Akito, Estelle, Felicity, and Vincent, but Tech helped me out with some Science Classes in my school," Jenny smiled to her. "Thanks to him though I was able to pass my classes. I was struggling a bit until I came to see him and the other Loonatics when Vincent invited me over."

"Aw, shucks." Tech beamed sheepishly.

"You must be very smart." Elaris smiled to Tech, admiring what Jenny had told her.

Tech blushed. "Well, I was a college professor before I got into the hero biz..." he replied.

"That explains it," Jenny smiled. "No wonder you're so brilliant."

"Yes, he certainly seems to be," Elaris smiled back in agreement. "I'm sorry... What was your name?"

"My name is Jenny Foxworth," Jenny replied. "Heiress to the Foxworth fortune."

"Nice to meet you." Elaris smiled.

"Same here." Jenny replied.

"So, we're watching the mission go on." Elaris told Jenny as she let the girl watch with them.

"Yeah, and it's going as badly as I said." Tech replied.

"They never listen." Elaris sighed.

Jenny frowned as that sounded like a major bummer.

"Their loss." Tech shrugged.

"Hmm... Yes, I suppose," Elaris replied. "Sometimes I wonder if I ended up leaving, would they even notice. But where would I go?"

"Well... You could always come to Acmetropolis... With me..." Tech replied.

"You sure there's enough room?" Elaris asked bashfully.

"Hey, sure!" Tech replied.

Elaris gave a small smile to that.

"I think Tech likes Elaris." Jenny whispered to Clank.

"Really? I had not noticed." Clank replied.

"Well, you are a robot." Jenny then remarked to that.

"I was being sarcastic." Clank replied.

"Oh, uh, sorry." Jenny then said bashfully.

"It is fine." Clank replied.

"Look on the bright side, they made it to their mission." Tech commented as he looked at the screen.

"So far, so good." Ace commented.

"More or less." Lexi rolled her lime-green eyes as she watched Captain Qwark.

"Calling it now, the mission fails." Rev spoke.

"D- for adventure." Jenny giggled as she made a little joke.

And as they watched, the GR's learned that Drek's next target was a populated planet called Novalis.

"Novalis..." Jenny repeated. "Sounds like a book world or something."

Black Velvet appeared to be helping out with Drek as she was shown to be back after seeing the others with the Loonatics not too long ago. However, unknown to the Rangers, Qwark made a deal with Drek: if he sabotaged the next mission, he would have his PR team make Qwark look like a hero/victim to make him look good.

"DUMB BUTT!" Jenny cried out, shaking her fist like she was stamping Captain Qwark's forehead. "DUMB BUTT! DUMB BUTT! DUMB BUTT! How much of a DUMB BUTT _ARE_ YOU?!"

The others looked shocked to see Jenny angry like that since she hardly ever got mad.

"Whoo, kitty's got claws." Duck commented.

"I saw THAT coming." LJ added.

"He makes an interesting offer." Black Velvet commented.

"Well... Alright." Qwark replied, shaking Drek's hand.

Jenny soon hit her head on the desk with a groan.

"I knew it," LJ remarked. "But the others don't."

"This world is just doomed, I just know it." Jenny groaned to herself.

"Novalis, maybe." LJ replied.

"Hmm... I guess so..." Jenny sighed.

"We have to do something," Vincent said. "There must be something we can do."

"We can discuss this later," LJ replied. "The Rangers are back!"

"Fine..." Jenny said. "Let's go and see them... As if they'll even listen to us anyway."

"Aw, come on, Jenny, I'm sure we can manage something." Lee said to her.

"If we're lucky." Duck replied.

"I guess..." Jenny sighed. "I just feel so frustrated by that Captain Qwark guy."

"Me too," Tech replied. "Heck, Duck might be a glory hound, but even he wouldn't stoop that low."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" Duck asked them.

"Let's just say it's a little of both." Rev replied.

"Well, thanks, I guess." Duck replied, not sure how to take that.

* * *

A little later, Qwark snuck into the control room and disabled the ship's weapons systems while downloading files onto a flash drive of his.

"Ah, hello there." Akito greeted dully.

"Getting some filing done...Captain?" LJ asked in an equally-dull tone.

"YAAAAAAH!" Qwark screamed before taking a deep breath. "Oh... You spooked me there, kids."

"Mm-hmm..." Akito and Estelle replied in unison, crossing their arms dully.

"When were there three of you... Never mind," Qwark shrugged. "Things are about to improve for ol' Qwark! Now, I'd best be off to patrol!"

Akito and Estelle narrowed their eyes.

"Pardon my language, but... Horse Apples." Estelle muttered.

LJ blinked, confused. "I was thinking something more like... Bull. Crap. But that works too... Somehow."

"That's basically the Equestrian version," Estelle said to him. "I've heard Aunt Rainbow Dash say it sometimes."

"Ohhhh..." LJ replied.

"Yeah..." Felicity said. "We better keep an eye on Captain Jerk."

The group nodded. "Right!"

"Of course," Felicity said. "Don't let anything distract you."

"Okay, Sis." LJ and Zofia nodded.

"Sis... I like that." Felicity smiled to them.

Chip smiled because Felicity was happy.

"Well, you ARE our sister." LJ replied.

"Yes... And do you not forget it... Or I will hunt you," Felicity smirked playfully. "Like Rudolph, the little vampire, not the red-nosed reindeer."

"I haven't seen that movie..." LJ stated with a gulp. "So wait...if Mom is part vampire, would that mean we're all like 1/4th vampire too?"

"That, I am unsure about, but perhaps you will learn at a certain age," Felicity said. "I did not know until I was around age eight."

"Well, can't be any weirder than when we and the rest of the family went to Hotel Transylvania those couple of times." LJ shrugged.

"At least Mother had fun then," Felicity smiled. "I don't think I've seen her more happy than we came to that place for the first time."

"Yeah. And Dad was super happy that SHE was so happy." LJ replied.

The Fudo siblings looked curious, but didn't say anything as they had to worry about Captain Qwark right now.

"Oh. Well...anyways, we should get back to keeping an eye on Qwark..." LJ replied.

"Come on then, let's go." Vincent said.

The kids nodded and headed off. Felicity took the lead as she narrowed her eyes in determination. Shortly afterwards, the people of Novalis were alerted and evacuated from the planet while the Rangers headed back into action.

"So what's the plan, Captain?" Cora asked.

"You guys stay back," Qwark explained. "I shall board the ship to try and reason with Drek."

"Shouldn't someone go with you so you don't do anything stupid?" Akito muttered to himself.

"And to answer any further questions, I'll be fine." Qwark replied.

Akito just rolled his sapphire eyes. And so, a few minutes after, Novalis was blown to chunks...and Ratchet learned the hard way that Qwark had gone traitor. Akito and the others sweat-dropped to that.

"You called it." Zofia sighed to Akito.

* * *

And due to believing it was his fault the mission failed, Ratchet took off and headed back to Veldin in disgrace. The others looked to Ratchet as he came over. Ratchet didn't say anything to them as he was clearly down in the dumps right now.

"Aw, jeez, Ratchet..." LJ sighed.

"...I kinda feel bad for him," Akito soon said. "This must've been how Ace felt around Deuce."

"Deuce?" LJ snickered at that name. "Boy, his parents must've hated HIM."

Akito put his hand to his head with a small sigh.

"Deuce?" Zofia asked.

"General Deuce was a former general of Planet Freleng," Felicity informed. "He wanted to control a whole planet, but Zadavia refused."

"Oh..." LJ nodded.

"He became a great enemy in later adventures with the Loonatics," Felicity said. "Even worse than Optimatus when he and Zadavia still hated each other."

"Oh, okay, I get it now," LJ replied. "Thanks for the fill-in. I guess this is what they mean when they say to never meet your heroes."

"Yeah..." Akito replied. "I feel a little bad for Ratchet... What can we do though?"

"We can at least try to help him get his confidence back." LJ replied.

"It's worth a shot, what have we got to lose?" Zofia nodded to her brother.

"Good idea!" LJ replied.

* * *

They soon went off after Ratchet who was having a downer of a day with a dark cloud hanging over his head. Ratchet was soon back home and he began to pack up his Galactic Rangers memorabilia. He took it and threw it in the garbage can. The others soon came to see Ratchet as he was going through a bit of a depressing mood.

"Hey guys..." Ratchet sighed as he laid in his bed.

"If you truly wish to make things right, you will try to do better next time," Clank explained. "There's a difference between taking responsibility and blaming yourself."

"Don't you get it? There won't be a next time." Ratchet sulked.

"Oh... I wouldn't say THAT..." LJ smirked.

Ratchet just sighed and turned over as he felt quite clearly depressed. Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard from outside. It was the Rangers' ship. Cora, Brax, and Elaris stepped out, the first two having guilty expressions on their faces. Ratchet just glanced over.

"What're you guys doing here?" Lee asked the Galactic Rangers with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

"We... Realized that you were right..." Brax replied.

"And let's be honest: we're not as great as we seem," Cora replied. "Exhibit A: my cadet photo."

The others looked to each other before coming to take a look. Estelle cupped her mouth as she couldn't resist a small giggle. LJ snorted with laughter, and so did Brax and Ratchet.

"Oh, really? That's how we're playing?" Cora smirked to Brax before she showed his to the others which looked even funnier and goofier.

"Dude... That HAIR. No. Just... No." Chip snickered.

"Okay, everyone, chill out!" Brax announced. "We have a job to do, and I need to start shooting at something immediately."

"Well, before we just go off and start shooting at things, I was thinking that-" Elaris began only for them to take out their guns and she then sighed in defeat as she was being ignored yet again. "Forget it. Why can't you guys just listen to me like Tech?"

"No, wait," Ratchet replied. "Elaris... Go ahead and explain your plan. This time, we promise to listen. ALL of us."

"Aw..." Elaris smiled to that before she soon said something rather urgent. "Well, while we can't move a planet out of the way; I was thinking, what if we could move the weapon targeting that planet?" she then suggested to the team.

"Move the Deplanetizer?" Cora asked.

"That's... That's BRILLIANT!" Tech exclaimed.

Elaris smiled bashfully from what Tech said and even seemed to blush.

"And just how are we gonna do THAT?" Cora asked.

"Knock it off course." Elaris stated.

"Okay. Awesome," Cora nodded to that. "And just how are we going to do that?"

"Not sure yet," Elaris rubbed her arm shyly. "But I'm working on it."

"Hey. I'm still willing to help." Tech smiled at her.

Elaris smiled back to that as she looked appreciative.

"Hmm..." Ratchet paused as he took a look around. "I might have an idea."

"Alright, let's hear it," Ace replied.

Ratchet soon huddled together with all of them as he went over a plan with them.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._**

"So after you pick up my dry cleaning, you need to polish the Segway, and after that-" Drek was speaking with someone.

Black Velvet was sitting nearby, looking impatient.

"Drek, I want to talk to you," Captain Qwark spoke up to the villain. "You tried to kill my Rangers! You said you'd leave them alone!"

"Oh, so now you care about them?" Black Velvet smirked.

"What do you mean?" Qwark asked. "I told Drek I'd follow through if he left them alone!"

"And I meant it at the time!" Drek smiled innocently while trying to get Captain Qwark out of the room. "I detest bloodshed as much as any Blarg, but sometimes, sacrifices are necessary for the greater good."

"I know you're working with Nefarious." Qwark replied.

"Isn't it great? We're all part of one big dream team," Drek grinned. "We should get T-shirts!"

"You're making a big mistake," Captain Qwark told him. "You have no idea the kinds of evil he's capable of."

"Oh, but we do," Black Velvet said, taking out some sort of tablet. It's all right here on his résumé. Special skills: Horrendous evil. Unspeakable evil. Diabolical evil. He's very well-rounded, and apparently, he can juggle."

"Oh-oh! Do I feel my ears burning?" Dr. Nefarious grinned as he soon entered.

"Right on schedule." Black Velvet smirked.

"You died in a prison escape," Captain Qwark said as he felt baffled as Dr. Nefarious was alive. "There were witnesses."

"Oh. People will say and do just about anything for the right price," Dr. Nefarious smirked. "What was yours, Qwark? What was your price for selling out your friends? Your face on another cereal box, perhaps?" he then mocked the boastful man. "Why don't you run along so the Chairman and I can get back to the business at hand?"

"Yes. Run along and enjoy your precious fame." Black Velvet smirked.

Captain Qwark began to feel hurt on the inside. "But... What am I supposed to do?"

"You can guard the Star Cracker water cooler," Drek suggested with a smirk as they shut him out. "Oh! But with fury! Mm-hmm."

Drek continued walking along. "Oh, and T-shirts WOULD be a good idea! What do YOU think, Neffy? Should we..." he started...

Suddenly, he was turned into a sheep.

"Sheepinator. One of my personal favorites," Dr. Nefarious smirked to that. "It's time for a change of management."

"Now that the moron is gone..." Black Velvet replied.

Drek continued to bleat in misfortune.

"I'm all yours," Black Velvet smirked to Dr. Nefarious, attempting to flirt with him. "I've lost my chance to take over Acmetropolis, but I think I have a chance for redemption with you."

"For the record, I'm only keeping you around because you're useful to me," Nefarious replied. "I only needed Drek so I could get the resources to make the Deplanetizer. Be lucky that I'm not using the Sheepinator on you."

"That's fair enough by me," Black Velvet replied. "I think you and I make a better team anyway."

"An interesting point." Nefarious nodded.

* * *

Back with the others, they were getting ready to go.

"Chip, it's nice to have you on the team," Akito smiled. "You're pretty helpful."

"Oh, thanks." Chip smiled back.

"Yeah. At this point in time, we're lucky to have all the help we can get." LJ added.

"I'm always happy to help out my friends," Chip smiled before blushing slightly. "Especially whenever Felicity invites me along."

"Yeah, we know. You two are great for each other." Zofia replied.

"You really think so?" Chip asked bashfully and shyly since he really liked Felicity.

"Sure we do!" LJ replied.

"Oh, well, thank you," Chip smiled. "I've liked Felicity for a long time. I mean... Her-I mean, your mother was a good friend of mine next to Belle."

"Really? Cool." Zofia replied.

Chip smiled as he continued to help the others get ready.

"Okay, let's do this!" Duck told the others as he took charge. "We only got so much time to get it all done. Use that, whatever that's called. That's good. Okay. Right. Over here."

"Do you even KNOW what you're doing?" Lexi asked.

"Of course I do, I'm in charge." Duck replied.

"Since when?!" Ace glared slightly.

"Since three minutes ago." Duck replied.

The others looked deadpan towards Duck.

"Keep bringing it on in, ratcheting it on up, electrifying everything," Duck soon continued as everyone else was working hard and he was just telling them what to do, being lazy as usual. "Make sure everything's got electricity running through it, at least a little bit. That's good, too. Whatever that is, you're doing great."

LJ rolled his eyes. They soon heard some feedback sounds which made them grimace from the unpleasant sound.

"Hey, everybody! Get in here now!" Elaris's voice demanded. "Uh, please."

Everyone ran inside to hear Elaris's message.

"You're not going to believe this," Elaris informed. "We finally decoded the Deplanetizer plans."

"We found his next target," Tech added onto that. "It's Umbris."

"Well, at least he picked an empty planet this time." Cora shrugged.

"Empty, sure, but it's volatile too," Tech explained. "If he blows that one up, it'll set off a chain reaction to destroy all the other planets as well."

"But why would Drek do that?" Ratchet soon asked. "I thought he was trying to build the perfect planet?"

"Unless Drek isn't the mastermind here." LJ replied.

"He isn't," Zed clarified. "Umbris wasn't Drek's idea. Duh!"

"Whatcha talking about, ro-butt?" LJ asked.

"It's Nefarious." Zed clarified.

"Dr. Nefarious?" Brax asked.

"No, Steve Nefarious," Zed deadpanned. "Of _course_ it's Dr. Nefarious!"

"Of freakin' COURSE!" LJ growled. "Only Nefarious would be this determined to cause that kind of devastation."

"Oh, yeah, funny how you didn't mention that when I was dangling you over the edge of a building." Cora deadpanned to the robot.

"Well, you didn't ask, now did you?" Zed replied.

"Okay, that's it. I'm shooting him." Cora said, taking out her gun at him.

"Hold it," Clank replied. "I thought Nefarious was dead."

"Only on the inside," Zed explained. "Otherwise, he's very much... Alive!~"

"Okay, shoot him." Brax decided.


	7. Chapter 7

Meanwhile, Drek-sheep was being dragged by Nefarious towards an escape pod.

"You wanted New Quartu? Well, I'll GIVE it to you!" he sneered as he plunked him into the pod.

"Happy Trails!" Black Velvet called out as she pushed the button to launch Drek away.

The ship took off and shot towards New Quartu, with Drek inside it.

**_'Now entering Umbris atmosphere.'_** The computer reported.

"Yes, it's almost here," Dr. Nefarious grinned darkly. "The beginning of the end."

"The end of what?" asked a Blaarg soldier.

Dr. Nefarious took out a gun and shot the soldier with it suddenly.

"Shall we let the games begin, Doctor?" Black Velvet suggested.

"Indeed." Nefarious grinned.

Black Velvet beamed as she pushed a button for their world conquest.

**_'Remote detonation now activated,'_** The computer said as a timer was soon set.**_ 'It is about to get real.'_**

* * *

Meanwhile, the Rangers' ship was close to the Deplanetizer.

"We're as close as we can get without being spotted." Elaris told everyone.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" asked Zofia.

"Go on. We're listening." Brax added.

"Well, I've been hard at work on a little something called the Hologuise," Elaris began to explain her plan. "It'll project a visual and audible replication of Captain Qwark so realistic, it would fool his own mother."

"Cool, I call first try!" LJ replied as he put it on and activated it. "Hi! I'm Captain Qwark, and I'm a big stupid doofus!" he said in a perfect imitation of his voice.

Some of the others laughed to that.

"I don't think I saw any difference." Zofia commented to her brother.

"Thanks!" LJ chuckled.

Tech soon took the device to give to Ratchet.

"Aww..." LJ pouted.

"With Ratchet posing as Qwark, they'll dock with the Deplanetizer by easily fooling the simple-minded Blarg." Elaris soon continued.

"Good idea." LJ replied.

Elaris smiled as she was finally being listened to at long last.

"What next?" asked Slam.

"Once inside, Ratchet and Clank will make their way through the Star Cracker chamber to the inner core." Elaris continued.

"Ooh!" Rev replied.

"When Ratchet exposes the stabilizer, it can quickly be disconnected." Elaris continued.

"Meanwhile, Clank will disable all the other weapons by hacking into the mainframe." Tech then added onto that.

"Brilliant!" LJ nodded.

'I helped her out a little bit." Tech smiled to them.

"Well, you guys work great together." Lexi replied.

"Thank you." Elaris and Tech said together in unison before looking to each other bashfully.

"No problem!" LJ and Zofia replied.

Elaris and Tech looked to each other as it seemed like they were made for each other.

"Seriously, though, you two are awesome for each other." Chip replied.

"Well, thank you." Elaris smiled to the blonde boy.

"My mama told me to be honest." Chip smiled back.

"Alright, people, let's get moving!" LJ remarked.

* * *

Everyone then went to their own battle stations to get the job done. Ratchet, in disguise, flew the ship onto the Deplanetizer base, managing to fool the Blaarg.

"All right, this is getting really good," Duck said. "This might even actually work."

Ratchet then used his wrench to pull out the stabilizer core and take it away.

"This is almost too easy, this plan is just fool proof! We sure are lucky to have Tech on the-" Rev beamed until Vincent closed the roadrunner's beak.

"Thank you." Tech sighed.

The Fudo siblings as well as the Schwartz kids began to look hopeful for both Tech and Elaris to become a couple.

"Weapons system disabled." Clank reported.

"Schwing!" LJ grinned.

"I think you're using that word wrong." Zofia commented.

"Maybe," LJ shrugged. "Still, context."

"Sometimes I think I'd fit in better if I lived with Beatrix Potter," Zofia said before smiling. "Mm... What a wonderful authoress... Of course, no one could beat Mother."

"Plus, I'm pretty sure Beatrix Potter is dead," LJ replied. "Besides, I'd miss the heck outta ya if you didn't live with us."

"Aww..." Zofia smiled to that before hugging him. "How're we doing, Tech?"

"Great!" Tech smiled back. "It's just like Elaris and I planned it!"

"Right on, lovebirds!" Ace whooped.

"All right, guys, I'm here!" Ratchet called out as he ran over with what they needed in his hands.

"Way to go, dude!" LJ whooped. "Now let's hope the rest works out."

"Yeah, me too," Ratchet smiled. "By the way, thanks for coming along."

"No problem, dude." LJ replied.

* * *

Black Velvet was soon seen rushing over to go with Dr. Nefarious as he was on his way out.

"Dr. Nefarious, sir... I mean, Doctor! Where are you going?" A Blarg asked him.

"Me? Nowhere," Dr. Nefarious replied. "Certainly not out of a system-wide blast radius."

"Well, while you were trying to get into fhat one-seater ship, I can't find Chairman Drek anywhere, and the Deplanetizer's Stabilizer Core is missing!" The Blarg explained frantically.

"Argh! You want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Dr. Nefarious grunted. He cracked his knuckles and shuffled down the hall.

Black Velvet looked over and decided to go and follow after Dr. Nefarious.

An alarm blared out over the speakers.**_ "WARNING. WARNING. CORE STABILIZER OFFLINE."_**

"Everybody PANIC!" howled a Blarg, and they all screamed in terror.

* * *

Ratchet was soon coming to the others, but the real Captain Qwark caught a glimpse of him on screen. Akito and Lee soon helped Ratchet up as he struggled to climb up.

"And we're clear," Ratchet then said once he was up on his feet. "All units, move in."

"Yeah!" LJ smirked, giving Akito and Lee fist bumps.

"Way to go, you guys!" Zofia whooped.

**_'Yeah! Way to go, you guys!'_** Elaris repeated through the communicator.

Akito and Lee soon fist bumped LJ back before they all shared a special new handshake with each other.

"Bada-bing, bada-boom!" LJ smirked. "This was easier than we thought!"

"Uh, guys?" Clank said once he saw someone coming right behind them and it was Qwark!

"Greetings, Cadets." Captain Qwark greeted as he flew on his own jet-pack.

"Greetings... Traitor." LJ growled with a venomous tone.

"Looks like your troubles just doubled." Black Velvet remarked as she also entered the fight.

"Velours Noir," Felicity glared to what seemed to be her arch nemesis. "I knew that you would be back ever since you came back for me when I was due to meet Terry McGinnis!"

"That's right, sweetie," Black Velvet chuckled. "Both you AND your baby brother interest me."

"Captain Qwark, Black Velvet, on behalf of the Galactic Rangers, we're placing you under arrest." Ratchet glared to the two.

"The Galactic Court will show you no mercy, traitorous scum." LJ added.

"You can't do that; I'll just arrest YOU right back!" Qwark replied.

"I don't think that's biologically possible." Felicity remarked.

"On what charge?" Ratchet asked Qwark.

"False arrest? Being annoying? Who cares?" Qwark retorted.

"You stabbed your own team in the back, Qwark!" LJ snapped.

"Just like your friend stabbed me in the back," Qwark replied. "Taking my fans, my sponsors, my lucrative endorsement deals, my parking space!"

"You were his hero!" Akito glared with a small pout as he was mad at Qwark and sad for Ratchet. "Now, you're no better than Nefarious!"

"How dare you," Qwark glared back. "I am way better-looking than Nefarious!"

"You smug, arrogant bastard," LJ snarled. "You've had this coming for a LONG time. I've been wanting to punch your face in since I first laid eyes on ya... But I'm courteous enough to share your beating with my friends and family!"

"Oh, widdle boys and girls with widdle fighting skills." Qwark mocked.

Akito soon tackled him against the wall with a glare, using his special strength inherited from Atticus. LJ began to power up and launched himself at Qwark before turning rocky and smashing into his stomach. Qwark grunted, but glared as he took out his own gun to shoot at them. LJ just extended his hand behind Qwark to poke him in the eyes, while he used his foot to knock his gun out of his hand. Zofia winced from the 'Eye Scream' as it always made her cringe.

"Qwark, you don't wanna do this," Chip told the man. "We all could've been friends if you weren't such an egotist."

Qwark snorted. "I don't need your friendship. All I need is my sweet, sweet fame. And once I get rid of you brats, I'll be the best again!" he exclaimed.

"You are insane!" Felicity scolded.

Black Velvet soon came up behind Felicity and hugged her shoulders. "Don't worry about that, dear... You'll be happier with me..." she then smirked. "Embrace the darkness. You and I could have so much fun together."

"Get. Away. From. My. SISTER!" LJ roared angrily.

"No, LJ, it's okay, this is my fight." Felicity told her younger brother.

LJ sighed. "Alright, then. Give her a good thrashing from the both of us. Show her what happens when you mess with the Schwartz family!" he replied with a thumbs-up.

"You be safe now," Felicity smiled before glaring with a growl before lunging out to Black Velvet. "I will never join you!"

"Well, then: maybe your siblings will!" Black Velvet smirked darkly before shooting black lightning blasts.

"Let them alone!" Felicity cried out before gasping. "LJ! Zofia! Look out!"

LJ blocked his blast, while Zofia dodged hers.

"Leave LJ and Zofia alone!" Chip glared to Black Velvet. "Leave Felicity alone! Just go back to wherever you came from and leave all of us alone! As long as I'm here, I won't let you take any of them because they're my family too!"

"Hmm... No thanks," Black Velvet shrugged. "I'm having WAY too much fun!"

"All right, I didn't want to have to do this..." Chip said before he took out a fighting sword.

This surprised some of the others.

"Tell me, do you fence?" Chip smirked to Black Velvet.

"Never had a reason to before." Black Velvet replied.

"Well, I suppose it would be unfair if I fenced you," Chip said. "Bottom line: Stay away from my family and my one true love."

"Aww... Chip really loves Felicity." Estelle smiled as that was cute before she took out a Pokeball.

The Pokemon soon came out to help out.

"Grizzly Bear!" Zofia panicked.

"It's okay, it's okay, that's just Teddy," Estelle replied. "He's my Ursaring."

"Fair enough," LJ replied with a smile. "I wanna get involved in that kinda thing next time!"

"I'm sure you'll be a great Pokemon trainer someday," Felicity smiled. "Come on, Mismagius!"

Tyraniter, Mismagius, Ursaring, and Ninetails soon came out at first.

"Hey, wait for me!" Arcanine, who belonged to Lee, soon ran after the other Pokemon to help out.

"Okay, then... NOW it's a party!" LJ whooped.

Chip glared as he held his sword close with the Pokemon beside him.

"How cute. A little monster army." Black Velvet smirked before she made shadow copies of all of them for back-up.

"A Shadow Squad?" LJ remarked. "Impressive. But I doubt they can beat the originals!"

"Why don't we just find out?" Black Velvet smirked. "I also like that name... Shadow Squad? Attack!"

The Shadow Squad soon attacked their lighter counterparts.

"Why do you want me so bad anyway?!" Felicity complained.

"You're better off with me..." Black Velvet told her.

"Jeez, I haven't heard such a load of baloney since Qwark thought he wasn't any worse than Nefarious!" LJ remarked. "So basically...4 minutes ago!"

"You're only going to make it harder." Black Velvet smirked darkly.

"Lady, if I wanted things easy, I wouldn't have started going on these adventures!" LJ replied.

"Perhaps you're troubled as well," Black Velvet smirked. "Maybe you could work with your sister and I."

Suddenly, the villainess was electrocuted before falling onto the floor.

"Way to go, Pikachu." Emi smiled as she stood by her and her brother's Electric Mouse Pokemon.

"Shocking!" LJ remarked.

Pikachu smiled to LJ as he helped out before growling towards Captain Qwark.

"Nice... Shocky... Rodent... Thingy..." he urged, putting up his hands in defense.

"You're NEXT!" Pikachu glared and soon shot his trademark Thunderbolt at Captain Qwark.

"GWAAAAH!" Qwark screamed in pain as he spazzed and twitched in mid-air while being electrocuted.

"That should keep him quiet for a while." Emi said before petting Pikachu since he did a very good job.

Pikachu enjoyed being petted as he smiled.

"Sorry, Qwark and Black Velvet, but you forced us." Vincent said.

"Not like we had a choice." LJ shrugged.

"Why though?" Captain Qwark grunted, a bit weakly.

"I'm sorry, but we have to help save Umbris." Felicity replied.

"Besides, you used to be a hero before you let the fame go to your head." Ratchet added.

Captain Qwark looked to them like he was going through some sort of change.

"Nefarious is tricking you," Ratchet explained. "He wants to destroy the entire system!"

"Do you wanna be remembered by helping him?" Akito added. "It doesn't have to be this way!"

Qwark blinked in shock... And dropped his weapon. "I'm... I'm sorry," he exclaimed. "I don't know how things got this far..."

The others soon looked to him.

"Now you see what you were doing was dumb and dangerous?" Felicity replied. "We all could've been great friends."

"I... Guess you're right..." Qwark sighed. "I DID do some pretty stupid stuff...and for what-infamy? No thanks. I'm willing to accept my punishment and come along quietly."

"Do you promise?" Felicity replied.

"I do..." Qwark reassured. "You have my word."

Felicity nodded firmly once it seemed like they now made amends with each other.

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Nefarious screeched in anger.

"By the power of friendship!" Chip called out as he drew out his sword before glaring. "I HAVE THE POWER!"

"This is just... Pathetic!" The demented doctor remarked as he emerged from hiding.

* * *

Black Velvet soon looked over to him once she recovered from the Thundershock.

"And YOU!" Nefarious exclaimed. "I expected better from you..."

"I did my best, alright?" Black Velvet glared slightly. "I was mostly after the pale girl! She and I are best together, but no, she had to choose those rotten Loonatics over me! I could've been like her Aunt Vivica or something!"

"Ugh..." Nefarious growled under his breath. "I KNEW I should've worked alone!" he pulled out a pistol and zapped Black Velvet, making her pass out.

Black Velvet let out a shriek and soon passed out.

"How harsh... Then again, I probably should've seen that coming." Zofia commented.

"As head of the Galactic Rangers... He places you under arrest." Qwark explained, referring to Ratchet.

Some of the others gasped, though not in a bad way of course.

"Me?" Ratchet replied.

"Absolutely!" Qwark beamed to him. "Arrest this man for his speakable crimes against the galaxy."

"MY CRIMES?!" Nefarious screeched. "The REAL crime is how YOU treated ME! **THE RANGERS COULDN'T EVEN GIVE ME A PROPER LABORATORY!**!"

"We have an operational budget!" Qwark retorted until they got into a bit of an argument.

"You called me 'King of the Nerd Herd'!"

"It was a term of endearment!"

"Day after day, I slaved away, creating all the weapons and devices that made you look like a hero, but you're not a hero," Nefarious laughed. "You're not even a good villain! You're the galaxy's biggest joke."

"Maybe, but the last laugh is on YOU!" Qwark responded.

Nefarious looked ready to shoot back before looking confused. "Wait, what? That didn't make any sense."

"Sure it did." Qwark replied.

Everyone else just looked between the two in silence as this didn't seem to go anywhere.

"No, it didn't," Nefarious told him. "It sounded like you were combining 'The joke is on you' with 'I'll have the last laugh'."

"Take your pick." Qwark shrugged.

"That's not how it works!" Nefarious hissed.

The kids rolled their eyes.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._**

"Get ready to engage mag-boosters!" Brax grinned.

"Ratchet, Clank, and the others are still inside!" Elaris replied.

"We don't have any time!" Cora exclaimed.

Elaris and Tech looked to each other as they moved forward.

* * *

"My point is, if you're going to use a one-liner, it should make sense, and be relevant to the situation!" Nefarious continued while the Pokemon seemed to fall asleep and the teenagers began to look bored and Felicity looked through a brochure of a place called Swallow Falls which looked a bit gray and dreary with a huge population of sardines.

"Look, I workshop thousands of these a year, and they can't all be gold!" Qwark glared to him. "Now, put your hands in the air!"

"Over YOUR DEAD BODIES!" Nefarious exclaimed.

Everyone soon yelped and jumped back into action as they were nearly shot at.

"You can't shoot me!" Estelle glared. "I'm a highly-trained babysitter!"

"Ask me if I CARE!" Nefarious screeched.

Ratchet and Clank soon tried to escape in their own way. Estelle soon glared to Nefarious before shooting a Brain Blast at him.

Nefarious got knocked back, before getting to his feet. "You know, maybe Drek was right. Maybe I AM a mad scientist." he stated.

"Ya think?!" Akito and Estelle deadpanned in unison.

The Deplanetizer missed Umbris, tilting to the side.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Pokemon yelped.

The trainers soon returned their Pokemon as they were tilting suddenly like a pinball machine. Ratchet nearly stumbled before stepping on a button.

"What's happening?!" Nefarious cried out.

'Deplanetizer now online.' The computer said.

"Qwark!" Ratchet yelled. "Don't let him turn it on!"

Qwark looked down to him before soon grabbing Nefarious by his ankle.

"Get off me, you has-been!" Nefarious glared to him.

* * *

As they grappled, they knocked the Deplanetizer off-course, causing the beam to miss Umbris.

"This can't be happening!" Duck panicked. "I never got to kiss Misty Breeze!"

"Calm down, ya knucklehead," Ace remarked. "The blast missed. We're alive!"

"We're alive? We're alive!" Duck then realized. "I knew my hard work would pay off sometime!"

The other Loonatics just all gave him a look of deadpan.

* * *

Back on the Deplanetizer, Nefarious was in a fit of rage.

"NO! My PLAN!" he screamed with anger. "You RUINED MY PLAN!"

"Sorry about that... But not really..." Lee smirked.

"Looks to me like the bad guys are blasting off again." Emi added.

Getting to his feet, Nefarious pulled out a large blaster device. "You've had this one coming a LONG time, Qwark. Out of all my inventions, it remains my favorite one." he explained.

"NO!" The teenagers cried out.

Ratchet was soon seen running towards Nefarious to stop him.

"Meet the RYNO, as in, 'Rip You A New One™'!" Nefarious grinned darkly.

"Hey, Nefarious!" Ratchet yelled.

"What?" Nefarious replied. He was then hit and sent falling over the edge.

"Meet the Omni-Wrench." Ratchet remarked smugly.

Nefarious screamed as he fell into the Deplanetizer's beam... And seemingly vanished.

"Wow! Awesome, Ratchet!" Akito beamed.

"Aw, it was nothing. Really." Ratchet replied.

Just then, another message rang out.**_ "WARNING: NOW ENTERING UMBRIS ATMOSPHERE."_** Apparently the Deplanetizer had begun to plummet from the sky and fall towards Umbris.

"Any ideas?" Qwark asked them.

"I'm not sure if I have any." Jenny replied.

"Hmm..." Clank soon paused to himself in thought. "We must find one of Drek's teleporters." he explained.

"Come on, guys," Elaris felt anxious for the others. "Get out of there. Come on!"

Tech soon held her hand to help calm her down a little. LJ glanced at the unconscious Black Velvet, her body lying nearby. With a sigh, he picked it up, and hoisted her over his shoulder. They soon rushed out with a scooter as Clank told them what to do so that they could make it out in time.

"It's here!" Ratchet explained. "Hit the brakes!"

"Relax! I know what I'm-" Qwark smiled until they suddenly flew off of the scooter and yelled out on the way.

Akito soon paused in the air and held himself before he began to fly in safety before helping the others.

"Qwark!" Ratchet yelped.

"I can't reach you in time," Qwark grunted. "Just get out while you can!"

**_'Teleporter charging.'_ **The computer stated.

"We can't leave you!" Chip frowned.

"We have to do SOMETHING!" LJ replied. "But what...?"

Clank was soon seen running off.

"Clank! What are you doing?" Ratchet called out.

"I think that little metal man has a great big plan." LJ commented.

"Oh, Clank, come back, it might be risky!" Zofia cried out.

"Zo? He knows what he's doing," LJ replied. "If he's got a plan, I suggest we take it. Might be our only chance to make it out of this alive."

"Are you sure?" Zofia frowned out of concern.

"As sure as can be," LJ replied firmly. "Just hang on."

"...All right, LJ... I trust you." Zofia soon said out of full respect.

"Good." LJ replied.

Zofia gave a small smile to him. LJ smiled back as Clank began to adjust the teleporter platform to be directly above them.

"Teleporter charging." Said the machine's voice.

"Clank..." The others smiled to the tiny robot as he helped out.

"What are you doing?!" Qwark shouted.

"Improvising." Clank replied as the teleporter platform fell towards them all in a bright flash...

"Ooh, this is it!" Chip cried out. "Everybody hold on!"

Everyone felt nervous at first as they were taken by the bright light.


	8. Chapter 8

Eventually, the bright light cleared and they were all on the floor, but they appeared to be alive.

"Are we dead?" Qwark asked.

"We are alive." Clank replied.

"All rangers present and accounted for," Tech remarked as he turned to Elaris. "We did it!"

"We did it!" Elaris smiled before hugging him quite excitedly before she then kissed Tech, hard on the lips.

The other Loonatics looked shocked, but of course, they felt happy for Tech. Finally, Elaris pulled away, and Tech's face was as red as Rev's feathers.

"How many planets do you think I'll have to save for them to call me a hero again?" Qwark sulked to himself.

"Ya don't hafta do big things to be a hero, Qwark," Ratchet replied. "Just the right ones."

Qwark gave a small pout before he soon smiled and thought of something. "Oh!" he then handed something back to the young Lombax. "I don't know, maybe it'll be worth something someday." It was the torn-in-half trading card of Captain Qwark that Ratchet had discarded on the ship earlier.

With a grunt, LJ placed Black Velvet's body down on the floor.

"Is she...?" Lee asked, not wanting to say the opposite of 'alive'.

"Nope..." LJ replied. "I felt her pulse; she's just recovering from that zap Nefarious gave her. Hopefully it cleared her thoughts so she might be thinking a bit more rationally."

"She might be evil, but it would be best if she didn't... Um... Die..." Zofia said.

"We know what you're saying, she'll be all right." Felicity coaxed.

At that point, Black Velvet woke up, but she clutched her head. "These goggles are so dark..." she grunted as she removed them, to reveal... A pair of normal brown eyes. "I... I can see... What happened?" she asked.

"Are you okay, uh, Miss Black Velvet?" Emi asked the enemy of the Loonatics.

"Y-Yeah... I think so..." Black Velvet replied. "I think... I might be cured..."

"Cured...?" Felicity asked as she looked over. "Velours Noir! Your eyes!" she then gasped.

Jenny soon walked over and gave Black Velvet a mirror so that she could see herself as she seemed to change and reform somehow.

"It's like when we reformed Uncle Sombra during that adventure with Anastasia." Akito commented.

"Oh, I read that last week..." LJ noted. "Sorry I freaked out and tried to attack him beforehand. I was behind on events leading up to that point."

"Ah, it's okay," Akito replied. "We're all still getting used to the change, but on the bright side, Uncle Sombra and Princess Celestia will be getting married soon, so that means that we'll have an Aunt Celestia, just like when Zadavia and Uncle Planet got married."

"I guess that technically makes Zadavia Aunt Mo's aunt, huh?" asked LJ.

"In a way, yeah," Akito replied. "Like with Aunt Queen Athena being Dad's aunt too."

"You guys really have an interesting family tree." Lee said to him.

"We sure do!" Akito and Estelle smiled proudly.

"Fair enough..." LJ shrugged.

"At least you're okay, Black Velvet." Chip said.

"No... You don't have to call me that anymore," Black Velvet replied. "Before all of this happened, I used to be called Vivica... So, call me that."

"Vivica..." Felicity smiled. "That's a nice name."

"Yeah," LJ added. "And pretty, too."

"Thank you..." Vivica said before smiling. "All of you... I've been in the dark too long, and now I have seen the light, thanks to all of you."

"How fitting..." LJ noted. "You're welcome."

Vivica soon stood up as she was a changed woman.

"I must say that it is curious that the sudden cessation of velocity relative to our inertia did not cause either of you to-" Clank soon spoke up.

Ratchet soon looked sick to his stomach and suddenly threw up.

Qwark laughed. "Yup, that's how it was MY first time, Cadet-" he remarked, before he vomited shortly afterwards.

Clank looked between them.

"Oh... Oh, that was terrible..." Qwark groaned before he soon ran out of the room while holding his stomach. "Oh, boy..."

"Should we go and join the others?" Clank soon suggested.

"I'd like to, but there's a promise I have to keep to an old friend." Ratchet replied.

"Eh?" asked Chip.

"...I understand." Clank said after a while.

"Don't worry," Ratchet smiled to his robot friend. "I'm sure we'll run into each other again someday. It's a small galaxy."

"Well, I suppose this is goodbye." Clank replied.

"Not goodbye," Ratchet replied. "Just... See you around."

The two soon shared a handshake which seemed to last for a rather long time.

"You can let go now, Ratchet." Clank suggested.

"Hehehe... Sorry..." Ratchet replied sheepishly.

The others smiled to each other as this seemed like a happy ending for Ratchet and Clank.

"Wow..." LJ sighed, as they were back aboard the Loonatics' ship and on their way back to Acmetropolis.

Ratchet said goodbye to them as they soon took their leave and came back into the year of 2772 onto the famed city planet.

* * *

Zadavia soon came with Captain Planet as they pushed Hercules and Maxima on their strollers to meet up with the Loonatics.

"We're back, everyone!" LJ announced.

"Oh, thank goodness," Zadavia smiled to them. "So good to see you all. I trust you had a good mission?"

"You bet," Chip replied. "We all got to help, we saved the day, AND we turned someone from the darkness to the light."

"Not too shabby, I'd say." LJ nodded.

"That's great, you guys!" Captain Planet smiled. "I always say 'The power is yours'. Uh, who's the someone you turned from darkness to the light?"

"Zadavia... Capitan Planet..." Felicity replied. "This is Vivica, formerly known as Velours Noir."

"AKA Black Velvet." Akito and Estelle added from French into English.

Vivica soon came out of the portal to join them as she was now friendly.

"It's a LOOOONG story!" LJ remarked.

* * *

They soon went to the Loonatics' Tower to celebrate.

"Hmm... I wonder what's on TV in the future?" Jenny commented.

Hercules crawled over and took the remote control before using it to turn on the TV to watch Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

"Kid's got good taste in TV for someone so young." LJ remarked, picking him up and putting him on his lap.

"It's his favorite show," Zadavia smiled. "He watches it all the time. At least his sister has a love for it too, though she's more of a fan of that Princess Mira Nova."

"I see." LJ nodded.

"Bzz! Bzz!" Hercules beamed.

"That's right," Jenny smiled to him. "Buzz Lightyear."

A humanoid girl was seen coming by with a redheaded boy as they smiled to each other before looking over.

"Oh, uh, do we have company?" Ixta asked.

"Yes, Ixta, the others went away on a mission, and those are LJ and Zofia," Captain Planet told his adoptive daughter. "They're Felicity's brother and sister."

"Oh, okay," Ixta smiled before waving to the siblings. "Hi, guys!"

"Hi, there!" LJ waved. "Nice to meet you!"

"Greetings." Zofia smiled.

"Sorry I missed you guys," Ixta smiled back, a little bashfully. "I was hanging out with Eddie and his friends."

"You guys wouldn't happen to know Luna Vista, would ya?" Eddie asked LJ and Zofia since he already knew Akito, Emi, Estelle, Lee, Vincent, Jenny, Felicity, and Chip.

"Luna Vista?" LJ asked. "Not really. Enlighten me."

"I live there with my friends, Lloyd, Douglas, and Kurt," Eddie replied. "It's a space station, and Lloyd's mom is the commander."

"I visit often." Ixta blushed as she looked back to Eddie.

"Ohhhh..." LJ nodded.

"Thanks for the walk..." Ixta said to Eddie.

"You're very welcome." Eddie smiled to her.

LJ just shrugged at that. Zofia watched Ixta and Eddie before the boy seemed to kiss the girl before leaving and her eyes sparkled to that.

"Well, another adventure completed," LJ sighed. "Wait'll the others hear about this!"

"I hope they aren't too jealous," Felicity said as she leaned against Chip. "That was very invigorating though. Especially with making friends with Velours-I mean... Vivica."

* * *

A white bat soon flew by and perched on the end of the couch.

"Ah, bonjour, Bartok," Felicity smiled to her pet bat which she earned after the adventure with Anastasia. "So good to see you."

"I just got back from visiting my sister, and I'm an uncle!" Bartok beamed.

"Oh..." LJ commented. "Why do I feel like we missed out on something good?"

Everyone glanced at him.

"Just kidding," LJ replied. "Better to get in on what you CAN instead of griping about what I missed out on..."

"Eh, it's all right," Bartok replied. "Maybe you'd like to meet my new niece. My sister named her 'Stellaluna'."

"That's a beautiful name." Estelle smiled.

"Oh, I read that book!" LJ stated. "It was nice."

"Congratulations, Bartok," Akito smiled. "I know you'll be a great uncle."

"Why, thank you, kiddos," Bartok smiled back. "I look forward to meeting her once she's old enough."

"Good on ya!" LJ replied.

Bartok smiled to them as he sat beside Felicity.

"Bartok became my pet after we helped Anastasia," Felicity said. "That adventure's kinda groundbreaking."

"You don't think Uncle Sombra will feel mad about LJ attacking him during our first meeting with him, do you?" Zofia asked.

"Ah, he'll understand," Vincent reassured. "He's still getting used to the good side, and Dad's still getting used to him being good. I'm sure the next time we see Uncle Sombra, all will be all right in the end."

"Eh... I hope you're right..." LJ replied sheepishly.

"It should be just fine," Vincent smiled. "If not, then we'll talk to him for ya."

It seemed to be a good ending for everyone as they had a lot of fun, especially with Ratchet and Clank and the Loonatics, and with Tech finding love. All in all, it was a fun adventure. And they all knew the next one would be just as great.

Lionel soon appeared much to everyone's surprise. "That's all, folks!" he then called out like Porky Pig as he ended the story for right now.

The End


End file.
